From hate to love
by LisaLisa87
Summary: A story of Bartolomeo the Cannibal and Cavendish of the White Horse falling awkwardly and accidentally in love.
1. Chapter 1

**Remember the scene where Bartolomeo chains Cavendish when they are going to sleep? Well, this is what could have happened after that :D**

* * *

" _Cabbage_! Come back here right now!"

"I don't want to, _jerk_!"

Bartolomeo cursed loudly while keeping running after Cavendish. Damn, he barely managed to keep his rhythm. In fact, he had been about to lose him in a couple of occasions when the blonde had suddenly changed directions, disappearing towards one of the multiple corridors of that ridiculous gigantic palace.

Seriously, how could he be going so fast with all those chains restricting his body? Although well, the fact that Bartolomeo had been hurt because of Gladius' attack was probably the cause of having such difficulties in chasing that high and mighty idiot, and surevly in any other situation he wouldn't have had the slightest problem.

Fortunately, it seemed that luck wasn't on the Pirate Prince's side because it didn't pass much time until reaching a dead end.

"HAHA! You have nowhere to run now, Cabbage!"

Cavendish clicked his tongue with frustration when hearing Bartolomeo's annoyingly triumphant voice closer and closer. He stumped in the nearest room and closed the door behind him, locking it after that since by then he had managed to free his arms.

Outside the room Bartolomeo rolled his eyes while interlacing the index and middle finger of both of his hands. He lazily created a little barrier that impacted with the door, breaking it completely. He smiled widely when hearing Cavendish's high pitched feminine cry. Scaring the bastard that had made him run nonstop for ten minutes felt incredibly good.

"Are you crazy?!", when Bartolomeo entered the room Cavendish had fallen on the floor and was glaring at him, "you almost hit my beautiful face by destroying the door like that!"

" _Almost_? What a pity"

Cavendish's glare intensified. He was about to insult the green-haired pirate once again but at that moment Bartolomeo straddled him and grabbed both of his arms with the clear intention of chaining him again.

"Oi, don't touch me like that, you animal!"

Cavendish tried to get free from Bartolomeo's grip but the man was way stronger than it looked at first glance so in a matter of time both of his arms were immobilized again together with the rest of his body.

"Sorry, Cabbage, it's nothing personal but I don't want to die on my sleep because of that monster of yours"

"This is totally outrageous!", Cavendish struggled during some seconds without success, "I, Cavendish 'of the White Horse', don't deserve to be treated like this!"

"Well, don't have a monster inside and you won't", Bartolomeo said with a completely non-impressed tone, digging his pinky into his ear absent-mindedly.

Cavendish exhaled a patient sigh. He should have known that Bartolomeo was too brute to understand his greatness, so he tried another method.

"Listen, I perfectly know how Hakuba behaves, all right?", Bartolomeo raised an eyebrow, skeptic, so Cavendish continued talking, "he only appears when he hasn't controlled me for a while, but since today he has fought quite a lot I think…"

"You _think_?"

"I _know_ that he is going to be resting and he won't show up again"

There was a pause in which Cavendish believed that maybe Bartolomeo had listened to reasons but when the pirate simply snorted while standing up and grabbed him unceremoniously he realized that he had been wrong.

"Sorry, but I prefer not to risk to die before having the autographs of the Straw Hats"

Cavendish, who had been about to begin to shout again with indignation, shut up when an idea came to his mind. Of course! How hadn't it occurred to him before?

"Tsk, you are always talking about how fan you are but you're just a pretender"

"HAH?!", Bartolomeo grabbed Cavendish by the front of the chains and looked at him with an angry frown, "what have you just said?!"

Cavendish remembered in time not to grin. After all, even if it was obvious that Bartolomeo was really easy to manipulate when the Straw Hats where involved the man wasn't _completely_ stupid, so he could be able to deduce that he was being fooled.

"That you are not a real fan. A real fan wouldn't be treating the person who saved Nico Robin like this"

" _EXCUSE ME_?! I was the one who saved Robin-senpai when I contained Gladius with my barrier! You just helped her to reach the top!"

"Oh yes? And who was the one in saving her when Doflamingo attacked her for being protecting Law"

Bartolomeo's grip relaxed a little, his angry expression turning into a confused one. _Bingo_.

"You…you saved Robin-senpai?"

Cavendish nodded eagerly. Maybe too eagerly.

"Yes, I did", he adopted a melodramatic tone, "and what are you doing to thank me? You chain this perfect body of mine and don't believe me when I tell you that I have everything under control. I'm sure that if Luffy was here he would believe me immediately and he would never…"

 _Clink clink clink_

Cavendish's eyes opened wide when suddenly finding himself completely liberated. Damn, he had hoped to convince Bartolomeo at the end but he thought that it was going to take him more time.

But well, it was true that the idiot was obsessed with the Straw Hats. After all, he didn't care about anything and didn't make the least effort unless that crew was involved. The idiot had even risked his own life for them. He had been about to _die_ for them…

…And wait, why had he just sounded as if that fact _bothered_ him…?

However, just before his thoughts kept wandering through definitely awkward terrains Cavendish found himself inside a barrier.

"Hey, what are you doing now?!", Cavendish protested, banging with both of his hands the transparent wall.

"Just protecting myself", Bartolomeo sat down on the floor and leant his back against the barrier that he had just created, crossing his legs.

Cavendish stopped hitting the wall and stared at Bartolomeo (or better said at the back of his head) with his mouth completely opened.

"Wait wait wait, do you mean that are you going to sleep _here_?"

"Do you even remember where the main salon was?", Bartolomeo stretched his hands over his head and yawned, "because after our damn race I don't, and like hell if I'm going to be walking in circles at this time. I just want to sleep"

Cavendish blinked.

"So do you really plan us to sleep here?"

"Yep"

"You and me?"

"Yep"

" _Alone_?"

Bartolomeo shifted his body a little to look at Cavendish with a 'Seriously?' look.

"If you afraid that I attack you during your sleep I'm not going to do it", Cavendish blushed slightly but before being able to reply Bartolomeo continued, "I may be called 'the Cannibal' but I don't eat people. And don't worry, if I ate people I definitely wouldn't eat you"

"Oh?", Cavendish crossed his arms, suddenly offended, "well, better that way. I'm sure that my taste would be too good to waste it with people like you"

"People like _me_?", Bartolomeo repeated, obviously not liking the tone that Cavendish had used.

"Yes, people like _you_ ", Cavendish repeated, using an even more condescending tone than before.

"Oh?", Bartolomeo stood up again and confronted Cavendish, facing him with the barrier still between them, "do you want me to eat you to see if I'm able to enjoy your taste?"

There was a really uncomfortable silence during which Cavendish's cheeks got gradually redder while Bartolomeo finally realized the ambiguity of what he had just said.

"Umh…okay, that…", Bartolomeo coughed awkwardly, "that has sounded somewhat _weird_ so…"

"Yes, let's forget it" Cavendish agreed, clearing his throat before maneuvering to sit down on the floor more or less comfortably, suddenly grateful of that until-now-annoying barrier that prevented him to be too close to that idiot. Because he didn't know why but Bartolomeo's innocent but at the same time _not_ innocent at all words had made his heart race a little.

"Okay, Cabbage, you better get asleep fast and not to do anything funny", Bartolomeo said while adopting his previous sitting position, and Cavendish was surprised when the pirate didn't lie on the floor.

"Wait a minute", Cavendish began with an incredulous tone when seeing the guard posture that Bartolomeo had at that moment, "…are you planning to stay awake until I fall asleep?"

"Yep. That way I'll be sure that you aren't going to transform in that thing"

Cavendish rolled his eyes while turning around so his back was facing Bartolomeo's one.

"I've already told you that that's not going to happen", he insisted, curling his body while suppressing a yawn. He was more tired than he had realized.

"You better be right", Bartolomeo said with a snort, "because if it happens I'll use my barrier to squash your scary friend until…"

Cavendish who had closed his eyes already opened them again when Bartolomeo didn't continue.

"What?"

"I've just noticed, where is your coat?"

Cavendish was about to make a sharp comment about Bartolomeo's lack of observation but he remained silent. Considering that that brute wasn't one of his fans he couldn't expect him to have noticed it before. And of course that didn't bother him at all.

"I lent it to your beloved Nico Robin before, so I suppose she still have it"

Cavendish closed his eyes again, just to open them almost immediately with a surprised cry when suddenly something fell over him. Something relatively soft and warm that caused him to open his eyes wide in astonishment and his heart made a loud _Badum_ when realizing what it was.

"Use this then. I'm sure that you are going to freeze your ass off otherwise"

Cavendish turned around with Bartolomeo's coat in his hands, and after spending a couple of seconds more than necessary with his eyes fixed on the pirate's non-impressive-at-all back he spoke with tone more high-pitched than usual.

"D-don't be stupid! It's you the one who is going to freeze is you sleep half-naked!"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh while turning around a little. Cavendish gulped. Damn it, why his eyes were trying to get fixed on Bartolomeo' worked pecto… _tattoo_. Yes. Tattoo. That was it. It was that tattoo's fault that his eyes almost diverted there. Not for any other reason.

"Don't worry, Prince, I'm not as delicate as you", he said mockingly sticking his tongue out, but when he continued his tone was more serious, "besides, that's my way to thank you for having saved Robin-senpai"

Cavendish rolled his eyes, but he didn't protest anymore and covered himself with Bartolomeo's coat.

"After you verify that I'm not going to turn into Hakuba remove this damn barrier and take your stinky coat back"

But when he woke up the next morning the coat was still over him.

And Cavendish' heart made _Badum_ once again against his will.

* * *

 **I've recently discovered this pair and I'm in love with them :DD And Cavendish being in denial is totally the best. Hope you have liked it! =D**


	2. Chapter 2

**And remember the scene when everyone is partying in Orlumbus' ship after having allied with Luffy and Cavendish gets a little drunk? Well, let's suppose that Cavendish was more than a little drunk and Bartolomeo has to take care of it :D**

* * *

"Oi, Bartoooo! Why are we leaving the party?! I want to keep having fun~!"

Bartolomeo exhaled a loud sigh while keeping dragging an extremely drunk Cavendish towards the room that Orlumbus had indicated him, thing that was proving to be rather difficult because the annoying blonde couldn't stop staggering making them go way more slowly than they should be going. And the fact that Cavendish didn't stop protesting wasn't making the whole situation exactly better.

Seriously, why did he have to be the one in carrying Cabbage? It was not his fault that the idiot had no alcohol tolerance. Damn, he better lock that idiot up fast and come back to the party. He still had some autographs to ask to the Straw Hats.

"Okay, here we are"

Bartolomeo opened with a kick the door of the room since both of his hands were occupied: one of them keeping Cavendish's arm secured around his shoulder and the other one around the idiot's waist tightly, so that the blonde didn't fall.

He was forced to wait until his eyes got more or less used to the darkness of the room to pinpoint a bed in one of the corners. After locating it, he walked towards it with Cavendish following him even more clumsily than before, since by then he was almost completely asleep.

"Very well, Cabbage", Bartolomeo threw Cavendish unceremoniously towards the bed, making him land with a _thunk_ that caused the bed to creak, "time for you to sleep"

Cavendish incorporated with difficulty, his drowsiness vanished because of Bartolomeo's rude treatment. He patted with both of his hands the soft mattress under him, and when finally realizing where he was his expression turned into one of funny exaggerated astonishment.

"W-Wait a minute…", Cavendish fixed his now opened wide eyes on Bartolomeo, "d-d-do you have made me abandon the party to have sex with me?!"

Bartolomeo's mouth fell completely opened after hearing Cavendish's words.

"W-What the hell?! Of course NOT!", Bartolomeo exclaimed in a more high-pitched voice that usual, "I've just been asked to take you here because you were drunk as a skunk, that's all"

"Oh. I see…"

Bartolomeo's eyes almost pop out of their sockets when hearing Cavendish's obviously _disappointed_ tone. Shit, the bastard had to be _really_ drunk to look so depressed after having being rejected. Well, at least one positive thing could be extracted from that annoying situation: the next day he was going to tease Cavendish to no end by telling him how lame he had acted after having drunk so muc…

"Well, let's do it anyway!"

By when Bartolomeo had time to analyze Cavendish's cheery words it was too late. He couldn't react in time when the blonde suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled with force, making him fall on the bed with his back against the mattress.

"Cabbage, you bastard, what do you think you're…"

Bartolomeo's words died on his throat when instead of answering Cavendish straddled his lap with way more ability that he should have after being so intoxicated, placing both of his legs firmly on either side of Bartolomeo's hips before settling his hands on his already opened white shirt to open it even more.

"Oi oi oi oi, stop!"

Bartolomeo immediately grabbed both of Cavendish's wrists in time to prevent him from keeping undressing himself. Damn it, the bastard was way way _way_ drunker than he had thought, what the hell was he doing?! Was he really planning to have sex with him?! And why the hell could he feel his heart beating so fast?!

"Come on, Bartooo", Cavendish tried to get free from Bartolomeo's grip but fortunately his movements were completely uncoordinated and Bartolomeo had no problems to keep his wrists immobilized, "it's going to be reaaaally fun, trust me"

"Like hell if I trust you in this state", Bartolomeo snapped. He was about to move in order to make Cavendish stop being over him but at that moment the blonde moved his hips down, causing their lower halves to connect with such an unexpected nice contact that Bartolomeo let out an involuntary groan.

" _Oh_?", Cavendish grinned, "Have you liked that?"

Bartolomeo gulped when his hopes about Cavendish not having heard him were destroyed. Damn it, he didn't like the way the blonde was looking at him right then, with his normally big blue eyes narrowed and piercing him.

"Look, Cabbage, you clearly don't know what you are doing right now, so what if we talk about it befor… _ngh_!"

Bartolomeo's eyes closed shut when another wave of pleasure assaulted him after Cavendish repeated his previous movement with his hips. And then again. And again. And before Bartolomeo could do anything to prevent it he was exhaling low groans while Cavendish grinded down against him, letting out soft whimpers of pleasure that went directly to Bartolomeo's lower half, that by then was already taking great interest after all that friction.

"See?", Cavendish exhaled with a breathless and too happy tone that clearly indicated that he wasn't sober, "it feels good"

Bartolomeo realized that at some time he had released without noticing Cavendish's wrists when this one settled his hands over his shoulders, pushing him more against the bed while increasing the pace of the grinding. The more violent friction caused Bartolomeo to grip Cavendish's hips with force, forcing another moan out of the blonde's mouth that caused Bartolomeo's member twitch again.

 _Shit_ , Bartolomeo managed to think between grind and grind. Shit, he was feeling good, _too_ good, probably because it had been a while since the last time he had done something remotely sexual with someone. His scary appearance made difficult that girls were interested in him, and the ones who had been interested enough to enter his bedroom in his ship had left before things could turn heated after discovering his (according to them) insane obsession with the Straw Hats.

So, in conclusion, Bartolomeo had a little accumulated pent-up sexual frustration, and even if it wasn't one of his first matters to resolve (the Straw Hats autographs were more important), right then Cavendish's actions were making him reconsider his priorities, because even if Cavendish's movements were uncoordinated and clumsy, the simple fact of feeling his warm body against him like that was enough to arouse him way more than it should. To make him want to do things that he normally hadn't any necessity to do.

And precisely for that, even if a part of him wanted to keep enjoying all that absolutely crazy situation, even if another part of him asked him to go even further and turn everything even more crazier, he had to make it stop before crossing a line that definitely both of them would end regretting.

Besides, Cavendish wasn't himself right then. If he was himself, there was no way that Cavendish would be willingly making something _like that_ with him. After all, the blonde pirate never got tired of saying what a rude and idiot pirate he thought Bartolomeo was. He wasn't the least interested in him. And Bartolomeo didn't know why, but that fact that until then he hadn't even considered bothered him a little. Just a little.

So, making use of all his willpower, Bartolomeo made Cavendish roll over until the blonde's back hit the mattress.

He realized immediately that doing that it hadn't been his wisest move.

Because damn it, _damn it,_ seeing Cavendish with his normally perfect hair slightly messed, with his breathing hard and labored making his worked chest go up and down almost hysterically, with his half- lidded eyes bathed with false desire fixed on Bartolomeo's lips, with his own mouth half-opened and wanting as if he was inciting Bartolomeo to lean down to kiss him…damn it, it was causing Bartolomeo to want to accept Cavendish's unconscious invitation.

Bartolomeo was still debating internally between doing the correct thing and to act as the shameful pirate that he supposedly was when suddenly Cavendish raised a hand slowly to approach it to Bartolomeo's mouth. The green-haired pirate held his breath when Cavendish settled his fingers on one of his fangs to caress it, the unexpected tender contact causing Bartolomeo to gulp. What the…?

"Your fangs…they are beautiful…"

Bartolomeo felt his heart jump in his chest after hearing Cavendish say that with such an apparent sincere tone. He knew that probably it was the alcohol talking but he couldn't help to feel a wave of genuine happiness invading him because no one in his life, no one, had ever said him something like that. Most people said that his fangs were (again) scary, and ugly, worthy of a monster but not of a human, and just a few (the members of his crew) had said they were cool.

But no one had said him that they were _beautiful_. Until now. And among all the people that he knew, it had been Cavendish the one who had told him that. The man that was now under him, asking him for sex with such a tempting expression on his fac…

And then, Cavendish fell suddenly dead asleep and began to snort loudly, causing Bartolomeo's libido to be replaced by alarm when realizing that Cavendish _had fallen asleep_.

Bartolomeo jumped out of the bed with a strangled gasp and created a barrier around Cavendish. He waited some seconds, but when seeing that the blonde kept snoring rather soundly and that Hakuba wasn't giving any signs to appear he removed the barrier with a relieved sigh.

Shit, he thought scratching the back of his head awkwardly. That had been close. Too close And he wasn't thinking just about Hakuba but about what had been about to happen before that.

Bartolomeo shook his head and turned around to leave the room, forcing him not to look back at the sleeping figure of Cavendish on the bed before closing the door behind him to lean against it.

Well, the important thing was that nothing had happened at the end. Okay, he had experienced some moments of wild (and really awesome) sexual frottage with Cavendish, a man who supposedly he hated, but nothing more than that had happened.

And yes, for a moment he had really considered the possibility of having sex with that idiot, but again nothing had happened. So everything was fine. Nothing has changed between the idiot Cabbage and him. The next day that they met they would keep shouting at each other, and hating each other, and…

…and then he remembered Cavendish's drunk but sincere words:

 _Your fangs…they are beautiful…_

And this time, it was Bartolomeo's heart the one that did _Badum_ against his will.

* * *

 **This drabble ended having way more feelings than I had initially intended. Hope you had enjoyed it :D Feel free to comment what you think, positive or negative!**

 **Next drabble: Cavendish wakes up and has a talk with Bartolomeo :P So maybe at the end instead of short drabbles this ends becoming a full story xD**


	3. Chapter 3

**Cavendish wakes up with a hangover trying to remember what happened the previous night. He goes to talk to Bartolomeo to find out and things turn out unexpectedly awkward.**

* * *

Cavendish woke up the morning after the party feeling his head about to explode. He grabbed his face between his hands and leant his forehead over his flexed legs, whining pitifully for the sharp pain that was repeatedly hammering his head. He didn't remember having drunk too much, but considering that he didn't remember almost anything of the previous night maybe it was not very wise to trust his memory.

When seeing that his headache didn't show any signs to disappear any time sooner Cavendish stood up from the bed, carefully trying not to make too rude movements while moving. He didn't remember either how he had arrived at that room, although there was a vague memory in his head about someone carrying him. And maybe throwing him into the bed. And maybe…

Cavendish felt his heart skip a beat when the memory of someone pining him on the bed came to his mind like a flash, and even if he couldn't quite picture the person's face it was clear that it had been a man with a strong complexion. And probably with wild rocker-style bangs that looked really similar to…

In a rather stupid impulse Cavendish shook his head when the image of Bartolomeo appeared in his mind, but instead of pushing it away he only received another pang of pain on his temples that made him groan with discomfort.

Okay, it was evident that his head was really fuzzy because it was mixing whatever had really happened the previous night with a _really_ weird dream. A dream in which, apparently, Bartolomeo had pinned him on the bed, and even if Cavendish had absolutely no intention of thinking too deeply about the reasons for him dreaming something like that it was a relief that it had been just a dream.

Cavendish spent the next fifteen minutes trying to look acceptably presentable, since hungover or not he was still the Pirate Prince and couldn't allow himself to disappoint his fans that were expecting to see him shine as brilliantly as always.

When he was more or less satisfied with the result he finally left the room and walked towards the place he remembered it was the kitchen of Orlumbus' ship. He opened a couple of wrong doors that lead him to more dorms with pirates still sleeping it off until he reached the correct room to find that there was already someone inside. Someone that caused his heart skip a beat against his will.

"H-hey, good morning", Bartolomeo greeted from his seat on the table. He was in the middle of having breakfast and if Cavendish hadn't been busy trying to push back the nausea that had settled on his throat when seeing that there were still remains of the last night banquet on the table he would have noticed that Bartolomeo's tone had sounded just a little awkward for a moment.

"How do you have stomach to eat that?", Cavendish asked with a tiny tone, almost in awe. Bartolomeo simply shrugged as an answer.

"What? It tastes good"

Cavendish just grunted in disagreement while approaching the kitchen counter. He grabbed the cleanest mug that he could find among all the dirty plates that were stuffed there and began to prepare himself a warm tea. He hoped that it helped him to feel better.

"You look like shit, you know?", Bartolomeo commented when Cavendish sat down in front of him, and even if the green haired pirate had said it as a matter of fact and not as an insult Cavendish glared at him.

"At least unlike others I don't look like it all the time", he snapped back, causing Bartolomeo to snort before resuming his meal.

Cavendish spent some moments simply sustaining the warn mug between his hands. After some seconds he softly blew across the mug's surface and took a brief sip. He couldn't help to whine with satisfaction when the warm liquid flooded his mouth.

"God, I needed this", Cavendish exhaled, and he was surprised when finding Bartolomeo staring at him with a slight dumbfounded expression, "what?"

"Nothing", Bartolomeo cleared his throat and averted his eyes, "just that you are too vocal. W-when drinking I mean"

Cavendish huffed.

"Well, excuse me if I am refined enough to show my appreciation for a good tea"

They spent some moments in silence, Cavendish enjoying his drink and Bartolomeo more like attacking his food, but at some point the blond pirate broke the silence.

"By the way, do you remember anything about last night?"

Cavendish grabbed his temples between his hands in pain when Bartolomeo let fall his fork loudly on the plate accidentally after hearing that unexpected question.

"Damn it, be careful with the noise!"

"Sorry", Bartolomeo apologized before answering a little hesitantly, "well, I remember that I finally managed to get the autographs of the Straw Hats"

Cavendish rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's great, but I meant something more general. Like what happened after the banquet. Because I have woken up in a room and I have no memory of having gone there on my own"

"Yeah, well, you were quite drunk", Bartolomeo explained vaguely, "I guess that someone carried you there, I don't know"

Cavendish nodded to himself, still not too convinced. He was about to ask Bartolomeo again in case the man knew more details when the door opened loudly and more pirates of the Yonta Maria fleet entered, Orlumbus included.

"Oh, so you're already awake!"

Cavendish let out a resigned sigh while rubbing his temples again. Definitely, he was going to grab his tea and come back to his room to lie on his bed for another couple of hours. That was going to be the only way to enjoy some calm for his poor head.

"Yes, although I think that I'm going to rest a little more", Cavendish said forcing a smile, "last night party was a little rough for me"

Orlumbus and some of his crew members laughed mischievously.

"Yeah, and for what I heard it seems that the Cannibal and you had a rather wild night"

Cavendish, who had been about to stood up from his chair, remained sat with an expression of utter confusion while Bartolomeo practically spitted all his drink after hearing the Admiral's comment.

"What are you talking about?", Cavendish asked while Bartolomeo struggled to stop coughing without success.

"Come on, there is nothing to be embarrassed", Orlumbus said with a nonchalant tone, "Your sexual tension was really evident so it was logical that with a little of alcohol you both ended releasing it. And my men have told me that really loud moans where coming from your room so it seems that you released it pretty well"

Cavendish's eyes snapped opened in confusion. Sexual tension? Moans? What the hell was Orlumbus' talking about?! It had no sense at all!

"Hold on a second", Cavendish was still trying to find some sense on Orlumbus' words when Bartolomeo intervened hurriedly with a voice that was a little raspy because of his previous cough attack, "I just carried Cabbage to the room that you indicated me and that's all what happened…"

"Wait…", Cavendish diverted his confused eyes from Orlumbus to Bartolomeo and frowned, "if you were the one who carried me to the room why haven't you told me that before? You said that you didn't remember it"

Cavendish's frown accentuated when Bartolomeo's expression turned a little guilty. He was about to ask the pirate for a more detailed explanations but then, at that moment, Cavendish remembered something that made everything have sense.

Or at least that was what he thought. Wrongly.

"So it wasn't a dream!", Cavendish stood up rudely from his seat causing all the cutlery of the table to jangle and pointed at Batolomeo with his finger accusatorily, "so you carried me there to take advantage of my body!"

"Hey, that's not true!", Bartolomeo exclaimed raising his hands in front of him as a prove of innocence, "I just carried you there because I was asked but I didn't…"

"Then why have you lied?!", Cavendish almost shouted with a high-pitched hysterical voice, "and why have you looked so guilty when mentioning it?!"

"Cabbage, I didn't…"

"And why do I remember someone pushing me on the bed a-and crawling over me?! And what Orlumbus has said about the moans…", Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo with fury, "...bastard, so you really took advantage of me! So you…!"

Cavendish was startled when suddenly Bartolomeo stood up from his seat and approached him with an uncharacteristic angry expression on his face that made Cavendish shut up immediately.

"Wait, what…?"

Bartolomeo interrupted Cavendish's attempt of speaking by grabbing his arm rudely and practically dragging him out of the kitchen.

"Boss…", one of the pirates that had told Orlumbus about the noises looked at his admiral with certain worry, "...do you think that we should check on them?"

"Yeah, maybe they try to kill each other", other pirate added.

Orlumbus just laughed.

"It's not necessary", Orlumbus took the seat that Bartolomeo had left behind and began to eat, "They are just having a lover's quarrel. That's all"

The rest of the pirates looked at each other with skepticism at first but since Orlumbus had sounded so convinced they ended believing his words and began to eat as well, forgetting soon about the two pirates.

* * *

"Release me, you jerk!", Cavendish tried to get himself free from Bartolomeo's grip while keeping walking towards the main deck , "I'm serious, if you don't let me go right now I'll make you regret it so…"

Cavendish let out a pained gasp when Bartolomeo complied by releasing him forcibly against the giant mast of the ship, causing his back hit the wood.

"Damn you", Cavendish looked at Bartolmeo through half-closed eyes, "what exactly is your proble…?"

Cavendish's heart stopped for a moment when Bartolomeo placed both of his hands on either side of his head rudely, pinning him firmly against the mast and approaching his face so close to his own that Cavendish could perfectly see the different shades of red of Bartolomeo's eyes.

"No, Cavendish, what the hell is _your_ problem?", the blonde's pirate's heart skipped a beat when Bartolomeo called him by his name. It was probably the first time that Bartolomeo did that and Cavendish didn't know why that fact had caused his heart miss another beat, "do you really think that I'm the kind of guy that would take advantage of someone drunk?...Okay, it's true that I asked Zoro-senpai for an autograph when he was drunk but never, _never_ , I would do something like that to have sex with someone"

A part of Cavendish felt guilty when hearing Bartolomeo's offended tone. It was true that until now he would have never thought that the pirate could do something as despicable, but after his dream and after what Orlumbus had said he knew that something fishy had happened.

"Then why have you lied?", Cavendish replied, forcing himself to keep his eyes locked with Bartolomeo's and not divert them to another part of his body. Like, for example, his mouth, "and why weren't you surprised when Orlumbus has said all that"

Bartolomeo gulped and averted his eyes while stopping leaning over Cavendish. The blonde pirate remained silent, staring at Bartolomeo scratch the back of his head awkwardly before talking.

"Okay, believe it or not what I'm going to tell you is the truth", Bartolomeo crossed his arms, and began to talk, "last night you were, like, pretty drunk. You started dancing, singing and riding your annoying horse while crying that you were the most beautiful pirate in the world. In fact, you were that drunk that you almost fell overboard several times…"

"I get _already_ that I was drunk, can you please skip that part and explain to me what happened afterwards?", Cavendish exclaimed in an exasperated tone, making Bartolomeo sigh with patience.

"The thing is that after your almost sixth fall…", Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo but the last one ignored him and kept talking, "…Orlumbus asked me to carry you towards that room…"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did Orlumbus ask _you_ to carry me?", Cavendish elaborated, "I mean, we are not even friends so it would be more logical to have asked a member of my crew"

Bartolomeo tensed up momentarily when hearing Cavendish's words.

"I don't know, maybe the fact that I was the one who stopped you from falling almost all the times had something to do with it"

Cavendish gulped when hearing Bartolomeo's sarcastic reply.

"O-oh", Cavendish cleared his throat and crossed his arms as well, praying that his cheeks didn't do anything as stupid as turning red, "sorry, I didn't know it"

Bartolomeo snorted but the sarcasm was gone from his voice when speaking again.

"As I was saying I carried you to the room, and since you were a pain in the ass and didn't stop complaining since the moment I dragged you out of the party I threw you into the bed so that you finally fell asleep. Maybe that's what you remember. And then…"

Cavendish gulped when seeing Bartolomeo gulp, but just when he was going to demand with impatience that he kept talking the green-haired pirate spoke again with such a fast tone that Cavendish had problems to follow him.

"And then you panicked because you thought that I was planning to have sex with you. I said that it wasn't like that but _you_ pushed me into the bed, said that you wanted to do it, straddled my lap, tried to get undressed and when I tried to stop you, you began to grind against me"

Cavendish's mouth fell so opened that his jaw hurt.

"WHAT?!"

Cavendish's own strangled shout caused his head to hurt again but he didn't care about that anymore. Not after hearing what Bartolomeo had just said.

"I-Is this a joke, right?"

"Nope, it isn't"

"Come on, Bartolomeo, stop trying to fool me. This is a joke. It HAS to be a joke, right? RIGHT?"

Bartolomeo huffed.

"Do you really think that I would make up something like this?"

Cavendish opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before covering his eyes with both of his hands.

"It can't be. It has no sense at all"

But no matter how much he tried to deny it, Cavendish knew that Bartolomeo wasn't lying because after hearing his explanations, some of the things that he had forgotten began to come back. And Cavendish felt this time his cheeks burning when a rather clear memory of him dry humping Bartolomeo rather eagerly assaulted him.

"And wait a minute…", Cavendish removed the hands from his eyes and looked at Bartolomeo suspiciously, "if you stopped me as you're claiming why did the pirates hear _us_?"

Bartolomeo's previous guilty expression came back once again.

"W-well, about that…maybe I didn't stop you _immediately_ "

Cavendish half-closed his eyes even more.

"So at the end you _did_ take advantage of me!"

"I didn't!", Bartolomeo exclaimed, "besides, you were the one who began to act like a fucking dog in heat so sorry if it took me a moment to react!"

"First of all, if you compare me again with a dog I'll seriously kill you", Cavendish practically shouted, "and second, I don't believe that with me being in that state you weren't able to stop me the moment I began. So what happens, Barto?", Cavendish's tone turned sarcastic, "maybe did you feel so good having me over you that you didn't want to stop me?"

"Yes"

Cavendish's next sharp words died on his throat when hearing Bartolomeo's monosyllabic answer. And the fact that the pirate's expression was unexpectedly serious just made the tension that had settled suddenly between them heavier.

"What?", Cavendish barely whispered.

Bartolomeo sighed and slowly began to approach Cavendish again, who automatically pressed his back against the mast in a useless attempt to put some distance between Bartolomeo and him.

"Yes, I felt good. And you know what? For the way you were moaning _you_ felt good as well. And you know what's said about drunk people, right? That they usually let out their hidden desires. So tell me, Cabbage…" , Bartolomeo approached his face to Cavendish's again, causing the blonde pirate's breath to hitch , "…could it be that, deep inside, you really want to have sex with me?"

Cavendish didn't know why his heart began to pound in his chest hysterically. It was evident that he didn't want _that_ at all so why the hell was he suddenly so nervous?

"Sorry, Bartolomeo, but my tastes are a little better than that", he managed to speak with his almost usual superior tone, "I don't know what happened to me last night. Probably I lost control of myself the same way I do it sometimes when I fall asleep and Hakuba appears. But even if a brute like you won't ever understand, civilized people like me would never sleep with someone just because it feels good. For me, I have to at least like that person so that it ends happening"

To Cavendish's surprise, Bartolomeo just shrugged after his (according to Cavendish) rather awesome speech.

"Well, if that's true then that just means that you like me"

Cavendish blushed deeply when Bartolomeo said that with a completely natural note. In fact, the idiot had the nerve to smirk at him.

"Are you out of your mind?! There is no way that I like _you_!"

"Then why did you want to have sex with me so desperately?"

"For goodness sake, don't say things like that so casually! I wasn't myself at that moment, okay?", Cavendish's voice become gradually more high-pitched and the fact that Bartolomeo kept being too close to him wasn't helping him to calm down, "b-besides, I was so drunk that I probably mistook you for a beautiful lady"

"No, you didn't"

Cavendish snorted.

"And why are you so sure about that?"

"Because you said that my fangs were beautiful. And I don't think that that's something that you use to say to a lady"

Cavendish's eyes opened wide when hearing Bartolomeo say that with a triumphant tone. It was true that he had always thought that those fangs suited that idiot unexpectedly well but why the hell would he say something like that?!

"And now that I mention it, what do you think about them?"

Cavendish frowned confused.

"What?"

"About my fangs. Do you really think that they are beautiful?"

"W-Why do I have to answer that?"

"Come on, Cabbage, it's just a simple question, just answer"

Cavendish gulped. No, in fact it wasn't a simple question. Admitting that he was being sincere when saying that Bartolomeo's fangs had their particular beauty would imply to also admit that he was being sincere when trying to have sex with Bartolomeo. And definitely, he couldn't do that. Because it was a lie. A total lie.

He didn't want to have sex with that idiot. He didn't like that idiot. Okay, he didn't dislike him either. He had to admit that seeing him risk his life for Nico Robin and him in his fight against Gladius had impressed him. And that he had changed his mind about Bartolomeo after that, since until then he had just thought that the pirate was an idiotic fanboy of the Straw Hats. And even if that was true, Bartolomeo was more than that. He had proved how reliable he was during the fight at Dressrosa. How much he was disposed to risk for the rest.

So yes, Cavendish thought that Bartolomeo was somewhat cool, and that it was a rather interesting fellow. So no, he didn't dislike him. But that didn't mean that he liked him either. He didn't know why he had behaved such shamefully the previous night but definitely he didn't want to be romantically involved with that idiot. They weren't even friends, for goodness sake!

So he better make that clear before things turn out even weirder that they were already, even if he had to answer with a lie.

"Tsk, I don't know, teeth are teeth after all. But more than beautiful I think that they are rather scary"

Cavendish was prepared to receive a snort as an answer. Or a shout. Or even an insult. But what Cavendish wasn't expecting was to see a pang of sadness appear on Bartolomeo's eyes momentarily. In fact, it was so fast that if they hadn't been so close he would have probably missed it, but they were close enough for him to notice it. Or at least, they were until Bartolomeo let out a short laugh before finally stopping leaning over him.

"Yeah, I suppose they are"

Cavendish gulped. Somehow he knew that his answer had disappointed Bartolomeo but he couldn't take his words back, even if a part of him wanted to do that because seeing that expression on Bartolomeo's face even for a brief moment had made him feel incredibly guilty.

"You know, what if we both forget about what happened?", Cavendish suggested after clearing his throat, "you don't say a word about me acting like that and I'll stop saying that you took advantage of me"

Bartolomeo scratched the back of his head.

"Yep, I think that it will be the best. Although…", Cavendish was surprised when Bartolome smiled teasingly, "you better not boast too much about your feminine fans or I'll tell them that their dear Pirate Prince was about to be willingly eaten by the Cannibal"

Cavendish let out a chuckle against his will. Well, at least with that comment the tension seemed to have vanished quite a lot.

"Bastard. When I recover from my hangover I'll make you regret having said that", he threatened with a tiny smile.

"Try it", Bartolomeo said simply with his wide smile still in place.

After that, Bartolomeo disappeared towards the kitchen and Cavendish came back to his room. The blond pirate closed the door behind him and leant against it, sighing deeply.

Well, after everything that had happened, he had extracted two important conclusions.

First, he had to control himself while drinking. And second, he better not let Bartolomeo be so close to him _ever again_.

Because he could still feel his heart racing just when remembering how close their mouths had been. So close that for a slight tiny moment he had wondered how it would be to join them together. And unfortunately, this time he couldn't blame the alcohol for having thought that.

* * *

 **Weeeell, it ended being a rather intense talk. Be prepared for more chapters of awkwardness and sexual tension :)**  
 **Comments will be really welcome~!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Cavendish and Bartolomeo meet again after Rebecca asks them help with a job. They are forced to share a room and the tension between them increases even more.**

* * *

A month had already passed since Cavendish had made the alliance with the Straw Hats, and during that time he had been navigating with his Beautiful pirates trying to find the remains of the mercenaries that had deals with Doflamingo.

Until then Cavendish's main objective had been to find the Supernovas that were planning to steal his glory and eliminate them, but that had been put momentarily on hold. After all, by sabotaging the mercenaries' hideouts he wasn't just helping to stop the war that was going to eventually explode after Dressrosa incident: he was also increasing the fame of the Pirate Prince among the commoners.

For that reason, Cavendish wasn't surprised when he received a letter from Rebecca asking him to reunite with her in Dressrosa. He guessed that the girl had heard about his fabulous feats and wanted to thank him personally. Maybe she was even willing to go on a date with him, and if that was the case he would be delighted to accept. He had always thought that, besides an excellent fighter, the girl was rather pretty and clever, and it had been a while since the last time he had enjoyed the company of a distinguished woman.

So now there he was, in front of the inn where supposedly Rebecca and him were going to meet, and although he was whistling in a rather good mood for the possibility of spending a rather nice time with the princess of Dresrossa, his hand was close to his sword because of course he had also considered de possibility that the letter was a trap.

After entering the local, Cavendish followed the indications that Rebecca had left him in the letter and approached the innkeeper. The girl had asked him to hide his true identity so Cavendish had replaced his first quality cape with a riding hood, and he made sure to change a little his usually melodious and wonderful tone of voice when saying the innkeeper the password that was also written in the letter. Cavendish thought that so many precautions were a little excessive, but it was also true that even if Rebecca had forfeited her title she was still a princess, so probably she didn't want to awake rumors about her meeting secretly with the great Cavendish of the White Horse.

Cavendish accepted the key that the man handled him and climbed up the rusty stairs that lead to the second floor. He stopped briefly in the room that he had been assigned, and after adopting the best of his smiles he entered the room.

However, his charming smile disappeared when seeing in the dim light of the room a hooded figure that clearly wasn't feminine. Thinking that at the end he had been about to fall into a trap Cavendish decided to act quickly before the man was able to react. Cavendish jumped over the stranger, causing the man to end in the ground facing up with Cavendish somewhat straddling him and pointing his sword under his neck. And then, Cavendish froze when the shocked yelp that the stranger let out sounded familiar

"Dude, what the hell is your problem?!"

Cavendish's eyes sopened wide.

"Bartolomeo?"

The man snorted.

"No, your grandma"

Cavendish closed his eyes. Yes, definitely it was Bartolomeo.

At that moment the lights turned on completely, allowing Cavendish to see the rather angry pirate under him just before another figure entered the room, this time a feminine one.

"Cavendish-san!", Rebecca closed the door behind her rapidly, "I'm so sorry, I should have warned you that Bartolomeo was going to be here as well but I forgot to mention it in the letter"

"Oh, don't apologize Rebecca!", Cavendish's amicable tone turned accusing when looking down at Bartolomeo, "this brute is the one to blame for being here in the darkness"

Bartolomeo huffed.

"I was just taking a nap while Becca was out. I had just woken up when you have jumped over me, so I'm pretty sure that it's _your_ fault, Cabbage"

Cavendish's eye twitched against his will when hearing Bartolomeo call the girl with such familiarity. In fact, the girl had called Bartolomeo without honorifics as well, so how close those two were exactly?

"Um…Cavendish-san, maybe you could allow Bartolomeo to stand up"

"Yeah, and removing that sword from my face would be awesome as well"

Cavendish realized then that indeed he was still straddling Bartolomeo's lap, so he stood up more hurriedly that he would have liked while pushing away a memory that had been about to come to his mind, regarding certain embarrassing incident that had happened a month ago and that he hadn't managed to forget yet.

"Well…", Rebecca began after Bartolomeo was standing as well, "…before explaining you both why I have called you here let me thank you for having come", Rebecca smiled apologetically, "and also I'm sorry because I imagine that you are busy with your own businesses. I promise that what I'm going to ask you isn't going to take you too much time"

"It's okay", Cavendish smiled while waving his hands, "I was a little tired of catching mercenaries so a change will be nice"

Rebecca's eyes opened wide before exhaling a nervous laugh.

"Actually…", she bit her bottom lip guiltily, "I'm afraid that what I'm going to ask you is something similar.

"So do you want our help to catch some bad guys?"

Bartolomeo's suggestion caused Rebecca to almost let escape a smile because it was funny hearing the Cannibal say that, even if he was a completely different kind of bad guy.

"Not exactly. What I want is that you steal certain information from a specific group of mercenaries that remains faithful to Doflamingo. According to the spy that we managed to infiltrate in that group, it seems that there exists a hidden warehouse that contains a supply of weapons even bigger than the one we found under the Corrida Colisseum"

"And I suppose that the information that we have to steal is the location of that warehouse", Cavendish guessed.

"Exactly", Rebecca nodded.

"But if those pirates already know where the warehouse is, wouldn't it be easier that you wait until they try to go there and that the spy warn you then?", Bartolomeo half-closed his eyes when Cavendish looked at him impressed, "what's with that look?"

"Nothing, just that I wasn't expecting that you suggested such a logic plan"

"Hey, are you calling me dumb, Cabbage?!"

"The thing is…", Rebecca's sudden concerned voice made the two pirates focus on the girl again, "…that after the spy gave us that information, we lost contact with him. I don't want to think in the worst case scenario but the possibility that something has happened to him is there, so waiting for them to move is not the best option or it could be too late. Besides, there is something that I still haven't told you about the information that the mercenaries have, and it's that it's codified"

"Codified?", Cavendish and Bartolomeo repeated at the same time, causing Rebeca to show a tiny sad smile.

"Well, I don't have to remind you how much Doflamingo liked his little games. He wasn't called the Joker for no reason. And it seems that he thought that it would be funny to hide the information of the warehouse. However, this time that man's little hobby is going to be at our advantage, since I'm pretty sure that the mercenaries won't be able to move until they don't decipher that information, thing that surely is not going to be very easy…"

"…so this is the perfect opportunity to steal it from them", Cavendish completed.

"Yes. That's it", Rebecca nodded before looking at Cavendish and Bartolomeo with a hoping expression, "do you think you can do it?"

"Well, it doesn't sound too complicated but just one question…", Bartolomeo signaled at Cavendish with his thumb in a rude gesture, "why have you called Cabbage to do this job? I am able to do it myself without any help"

"For once, I agree with the fanboy. I am perfectly able to do it myself as well, so why have you called this punk?"

Both pirate interchanged an angry glare before huffing at the same time to end looking at the opposite side, Cavendish with his arms crossed and Bartolomeo with his hands on his pockets. Rebecca looked at them alternatively again before speaking again, suppressing a knowing smile.

"The truth is that when thinking about someone to ask for help both of you came to my mind. After all, besides your inestimable help during the fight against Doflamingo you both have been really kind with me: Bartolomeo helped me a lot during the last battle in Corrida Colisseum and Cavendish-san defended me in the one of the matches when the crowd was against me, so I thought that I could trust you for this task. And about working together, I know that maybe it will be complicated since you are a little different…"

"Tsk, ' _a little_ '?", Cavendish said with irony, causing Bartolomeo to stick his tongue at him very maturely.

"…but I also thing that you'll be rather compatible", Rebecca ignored the utterly astonished looks that the two pirates gave her and continued talking calmly, "and it's always good to go with someone that can cover your back"

Both Bartolomeo and Cavendish opened their mouths to protest but at the end neither of them said anything, because maybe they couldn't stand each other but deep inside they both knew that they could count on the other one.

"I hope that the bounty for working with this guy was worthy", Bartolomeo ended snapping, making Rebecca chuckle.

"Don't worry, it will be"

During the next fifteen minutes Rebecca gave them more details about their 'mission', as she called it. She also told them that she had rented a room in a different inn that was closer to the mercenaries' hideout, and that they should go there to rest since they were going to do the job the next day.

"And that's all", Rebecca said with a smile, "thanks so much again for accepting to help me"

"Don't mention it", Cavendish shot Bartolomeo a condescending side-glance, "and just to be clear I would have helped you even if there wasn't a bounty as a reward"

Rebecca giggled when Bartolomeo rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

"I know that Bartolomeo would have done it too", she said with conviction before turning to look at the green-haired pirate, "by the way, how is Lucy?"

"Oh, Luffy-senpai is perfectly fine! He and his crew are at Zou safe and sound, me and my boys got care of it", Bartolomeo said with a proud smile that caused Cavendish to click his tongue in annoyance. Luffy, Luffy, Luffy. For goodness sake, the idiot was truly obsessed with the Straw Hats.

"I'm glad to hear that", Rebecca said happily before wishing them luck.

Cavendish and Bartolomeo were about to leave when suddenly the green-haired pirate stopped in his tracks.

"Shit, I almost forget"

Cavendish frowned with confusion when suddenly Bartolomeo approached Rebecca and began to whisper something at her ear that caused the girl's eyes open wide in stupor.

"Oh, I see…", Cavendish heard the girl murmur in understanding, "alright, I will take of it. Thanks for the warning"

Bartolomeo joined Cavendish again. The blonde pirate couldn't help to feel just a little curious about what Bartolomeo had asked Rebecca but he decided not to say anything. He didn't want to leave the impression that he was too interested in that idiot. Or better said, that he was interested at all.

"Be prepared for the inn, Cabbage", Bartolomeo commented when they were outside, "if you are expecting a place worthy of a prince you will be disappointed"

Cavendish snorted haughtily.

"For your information, I know that the inn where we are going is an old and filthy local, but since people mustn't recognize us it's the best place to stay. After all, no one would expect to see someone of my status there", Cavendish made a little grimace, "the only thing I hope is not having to share the room with any customers"

Cavendish missed the way Bartolomeo gulped.

* * *

"This has to be a joke"

Bartolomeo couldn't blame Cavendish when this one said that with such a shocked tone, because even if Bartolomeo had known from the start that they were going to share a room, he wasn't expecting that turn of events at all.

"Alright, sorry but I won't accept this. I'm going to call Rebecca right now"

Cavendish stomped out of the room with his dendenmushi in hand before Bartolomeo could stop him. Bartolomeo let out a resigned sigh while scratching the back of his head. He had the feeling that Cavendish was going to enter the room even angrier than when he had left it. And he wasn't mistaken, because less than one minute later the door of the room snapped opened and a completely red Cavendish entered the room, breathing heavily.

"So _this_ was what you asked Rebecca!"

"Okay, before you begin to hyperventilate think for a moment", Bartolomeo reasoned with a tranquilizing tone that just seemed to make Cavendish even more hysterical, "I remind you that you have a rather scary friend inside you, so I thought that it would be good to sleep in the same room so that I could control that you aren't going to enter berserk mode"

"Yes, of course, and in order to do that it was absolutely necessary to ask for a room with a matrimonial bed, right?"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that! I just told Becca about sharing a room. I didn't say anything about sharing a _bed_ "

"Tsk, yes, sure…"

Bartolomeo frowned when Cavendish's tone kept sounding skeptic and sarcastic.

"What, you think that I wanted to sleep with you? Hah! In your dreams, blondie. Besides, you seem like the kind of annoying selfish bastard that takes all the bed space for himself"

"Well, if you want I can give you the number of a nice number of ladies that can assure you what an awesome sleeping partner I am"

Bartolomeo snorted, feeling more annoyed than he expected when listening to Cavendish boast about his conquests.

"No, thanks, I'm not interested in the least"

Cavendish was about to keep protesting but he shut up when seeing Bartolomeo removing his hooded cloak rapidly before lying on the bed, facing up with his arms behind his head.

"What are you doing?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish as if the blonde was dumb.

"Um…going to sleep?"

Cavendish rolled his eyes with impatience.

"Yes, I see that, and precisely for that reason I'm asking: are you seriously planning that we _both_ sleep in the same bed?"

"No, Cabbage, what I plan is to sleep in this bed. You can do the hell you want. You can sleep on the floor for all I care"

"What?! Have you ever seen how dirty this carpet is?! There is no way that I sleep there!"

"Then stop being such an ass and lie on the bed already", Bartolomeo snapped with an exasperated tone while closing his eyes, "jeez, I don't know why you are making such a fuss"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because the last time that you and me were in a bed we almost…?"

Bartolomeo felt his heart skip a beat when hearing Cavendish's words. He opened his eyes again and looked at Cavendish to see the blond pirate with a light blush on his cheeks, as if he had just regretted to have said that.

"What?"

Cavendish clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, averting his eyes.

"Don't play dumb. You perfectly know what I am talking about"

"Yeah, I know but", Bartolomeo incorporated in the bed into a sitting position, "I thought that we agreed to forget about it"

Cavendish snorted and looked at Bartolomeo.

"Yes, we agreed, but sorry if this situation has made me remember that", Cavendish snapped while signaling with a wide movement Bartolomeo, the bed and himself.

Bartolomeo broke the brief tense silence that had settled between Cavendish and him by exhaling a loud sigh.

"Look, Cabagge, if you are afraid that I try something you can forget it already. Because I like you almost as much as you like me"

If Bartolomeo wasn't too busy focusing on adopting a completely natural tone while saying the last sentence, he would have probably noticed the way Cavendish's body tensed lightly just at that moment.

"Besides, you're not drunk, so I guess that there's no risk of you acting weird and asking me for se…"

"Complete that sentence and you are dead", Cavendish hissed, causing Bartolomeo to shrug while raising both of his hands in front of him.

"I was just stating a fact"

"A fact that wasn't necessary to state", Cavendish replied irritatingly before grabbing his bag with vehemence.

"Where are you going now?", Bartolomeo asked with curiosity when seeing Cavendish walk towards the bathroom.

"To change myself"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Really, dude? I don't think that you have anything that I haven't"

Cavendish stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly just when he was about to enter the extremely tight cubicle.

"Sorry, Barto, but the fact that I was about to _get naked_ in front of you while being drunk doesn't mean that I want to do it again while being sober"

With those condescending words Cavendish closed the door of the bathroom behind him with extreme elegance.

Bartolomeo let out a deep sigh before exhaling a low curse, because damn if hearing Cavendish put emphasis on those words hadn't made his little Barto twitch inside his pants.

He hit the back of his head against the headboard once with annoyance. Seriously, what the hell was his problem? Before when Cavendish had jumped onto him pining him on the floor he had suffered the same reaction in his lower half, since having the blonde in his lap again had made him remember that incident that he thought he had managed to push away from his head. Shit, why the hell that pompous, arrogant and insufferable idiot affected him that much? Bartolomeo didn't even stand him!

At that moment Bartolomeo heard the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom, and automatically the image of a naked Cavendish shampooing his ridiculously soft hair while his pale body was drenched in water appeared on Bartolomeo's mind, causing little Barto to twitch once more.

Bartolomeo hit the back of his head again with more force. Okay, definitely after the mission he and his guys were going to spend the whole night at the nearest brothel. He thought that his lack of sexual activity wasn't going to affect him but he had been mistaken: definitely _it was affecting him_ so he better solution that the soonest he could.

Shit, maybe at the end to sleep in the same bed wasn't going to be such a good idea.

* * *

Cavendish was letting out deep breaths while letting the water fall over all his body, trying to calm down. He felt completely embarrassed. He had acted like a total idiot back then. Why had he panicked so much when seeing that they were going to share a bed? And the worst part was that he had been the only one in acting hysterically, Bartolomeo had been perfectly calm about it.

And for goodness sake, why had he brought up _that_ topic again? Alright, he had managed to give a good reply when Bartolomeo had commented that he didn't understand why he was going to get changed in the bathroom, but in fact Cavendish himself didn't understand it either. In his ship, his men had seen him naked several times in the showers so why was he bothered to be seen naked in front of Bartolomeo?! Why did he give that brute, rude and childish man such importance?! God, he seriously hoped to finish that mission the next day and came back with his crew to forget about Bartolomeo once and for all.

After putting his expensive silk pajama on Cavendish left the bathroom still drying his hair. He cambe back to the bedroom just when Bartolomeo was removing his dark purple coat with his back turned to him, completely unaware of his presence, and Cavendish felt his mouth falling gradually opened when seeing the green-haired pirate roll back his muscular shoulders to let his coat fall from his arms, leaving his sculpted back on full display.

An involuntary soft gasp escaped from Cavendish's lips, but fortunately he managed to close his mouth in time when Bartolomeo turned around to be facing him again, although he could still feel his own heartbeat loud in his ears and his body unexpectedly hot despite the light clothes that he was wearing.

"Took you a lot to leave the shower. Thought that you have drowned", Bartolomeo snapped, throwing his coat at the chair that was in the corner of the room before lying on the bed again in his previous position, making difficult for Cavendish not divert his eyes from Bartolomeo's face towards his now exposed torso.

"Normal people use to take his time in the shower to wash up properly, although I understand that maybe that's something unusual for you", Cavendish replied before bending down his body a little to let his long blond hair fall towards the ground so he could dry it more easily.

"Tsk, I bet that you've been admiring your beauty in the mirror and for that reason it has taken you that much"

Cavendish insulted himself internally when his heart skipped a beat. Come on, it was obvious that Bartolomeo had called him beautiful ironically. He shouldn't feel the least satisfied about it.

After drying his hair Cavendish stood up again, and he was about to approach the bed when realizing that Bartolomeo hadn't put any other clothes on.

"Wait, are you going to sleep like that?"

Bartolomeo frowned confused.

"Like how?"

"Um…half-naked?"

Bartolomeo blinked twice.

"Yeah, is there any problem with it?"

Cavendish huffed.

"Of course it is! Decent people use to sleep with clothes on, you know?"

"Okay, first of all I am _not_ decent people. And second, I have clothes on", Bartolomeo signaled his trousers, "so be thankful that I don't sleep like I usually do"

Cavendish rolled his eyes while sitting on his side of the bed, giving his back to Bartolomeo to comb his hair.

"What? Do you sleep naked?"

"Yep"

Cavendish was grateful that Bartolomeo couldn't see him because he felt his cheeks reddening. Damn, why had he asked something like that?

"Anyway, with the pajama that you are wearing you shouldn't complain too much about my 'lack of decency'"

"Excuse me?", Cavendish turned his head a little to the side to throw at Bartolomeo an offended look, "do you even know the quality of this pajama?"

"Nope, I only know that it's almost transparent and there wouldn't be much difference if you were naked"

Cavendish was about to protest but then he looked down and verified that indeed almost all his skin was visible through the fabric. He gulped. Damn it, he had put that pajama on without even thinking but it seemed that it hadn't been his wisest idea.

"By the way, I would have never guessed that you had a tattoo on your lower back"

Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo with his cheeks bright red, causing the green-haired pirate to smile mischievously.

"Tsk, I am beginning to regret having offered Rebecca help", Cavendish sulked while entering the sheets and immediately turning his back to Bartolomeo, making sure that no part of his body was touching the other pirate, "you better not enter my bed space or I'll kill you"

"Now that you mention you killing me…", Bartolomeo's tone turned wary, "do you think that there is any possibility of your scary friend appearing?"

"I don't know", Cavendish answered with sincerity, "I think that it's pretty safe to assume that Hakuba doesn't appear when I'm exhausted enough, or when I've been involved in battles since the guy seems to like violence pretty much"

"Oh, really?"

Cavendish ignored Bartolomeo's sarcastic annotation and kept talking.

"So, as I was saying, even if today has been pretty tiring because I hadn't stopped traveling I can't assure 100% that Hakuba isn't going to appear, since I'm not too exhausted. But don't worry, Hakuba prefers attacking marines so it won't attack yo…"

Before Cavendish could finish talking a barrier settled around him, caging him against the bed as if he was in some kind of transparent sarcophagus.

"Oi!", Cavendish banged uselessly the transparent wall before turning to look at Bartolomeo to see that the man hadn't changed his position even if now the fingers of both of his hands where interlaced, "Bartolomeo, remove this barrier!"

"Sorry, Cabagge, but Hakuba has attacked me before so I don't trust in his preferences for the marines"

"Look, in the hypothetic case that Hakuba appears, it won't be the first time that he does it when I'm sleeping with someone", Cavendish saw Bartolomeo's expression tense up and he corrected himself hurriedly, even if the reason for Bartolomeo's tension wasn't the one Cavendish was thinking, "I-I mean, obviously this case is different but the thing is that Hakuba has _never_ hurt the person with whom I was sharing the bed, so I'm completely sure that this time he won't attack you"

After a brief pause, Cavendish's hopes about Bartolomeo listening to him evaporated when the man tightened the barrier even more around him.

"W-what the hell? _Bartolomeo_!"

"Sorry, but I'm not convinced. So choose, Cabbage: or your sleep inside my barrier or we think in a way to exhaust you"

Cavendish's heart stopped for a brief moment when hearing Bartolomeo, feeling his face heat up and his heart begin to pound hysterically inside his chest, and at that moment Bartolomeo realized that his words could be easily misinterpreted.

"Oi, I wasn't meaning anything with that!"

"Yeah, of course you weren't…", Cavendish snapped, cursing his pale skin for making so evident when he was embarrassed. And damn it, why was his heart racing so damn fast?!

"Okay, I know that it has probably sounded as if I was suggesting that you and me…"

"Yes, it has sounded _exactly_ like that, so you know what? Leave the barrier on"

Bartolomeo snorted while Cavendish turned his back towards him again with difficulty because of the barrier that was around him.

"Look, do you really think that I would be so subtle if I really wanted to have sex with you?"

"Goodnight, Bartolomeo"

"If I really was interested in you that way, I can assure you that you would know it because…"

"I've said _goodnight_ "

Bartolomeo inhaled deeply, understanding that the conversation was over, so after snorting again with frustration he turned his naked back towards Cavendish, making sure to keep his fingers interlaced not to remove the barrier. After all, Bartolomeo thought with bitterness, he didn't want that Cavendish panicked for thinking that he was going to try something with him.

Meanwhile, in the side of his bed Cavendish was feeling extremely angry with himself. Because definitely to feel disappointed after hearing Bartolomeo deny so vehemently that he wasn't interested in him wasn't normal at all. The same way that it wasn't normal that for a brief moment it had crossed his mind to wonder how it would have been to accept Bartolomeo's accidental proposal.

* * *

 **A scene of these two sharing a bed against their will had just to be written :D I love to describe their tension and quarreling, and I have quite a thing for Bartolomeo's body, I don't know if it's too evident xDDD**  
 **In the next chapter they will begin their mission and maybe (just maybe) something begins to change between them :) Hope you have liked the chapter and don't hesitate in leaving your impressions~!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The mission starts and Cavendish and Bartolomeo have to learn to work together. Things begin to quickly escalate between them.**

* * *

When Cavendish woke up there wasn't any barrier around him. In fact, there wasn't anyone else in the bed either. He incorporated a little confused just when the door of the bathroom opened and Bartolomeo appeared fully dressed. Or better said, with all the clothes he used to wear on.

"Oh, are you up already?"

Cavendish would have answered that obvious question with irony if it wasn't for the awkward tension that was floating between them, and that was making Cavendish want to get out of that room the fastest he could.

"Yes. Did Hakuba appear at the end?"

"Nope"

Cavendish nodded while standing up from the bed as well. He had just asked to say something. He already knew that Hakuba hadn't shown up because when that happened he always woke up with a head-ache and the smell of blood lingering in his body, but the silence that had settled between Bartolomeo and him was making him nervous.

"Alright", Cavendish cleared his throat, insulting himself internally when he didn't bring himself to look at Bartolomeo in the eyes when talking, "according to Rebecca this afternoon will be the best time to steal the information but maybe we should decide how we are going to…"

"About that", Bartolomeo interrupted Cavendish, "what if each of us goes his own way?"

Cavendish fixed his surprised eyes in Bartolomeo.

"What?"

"Well", Bartolomeo dug his hands on his pockets while leaning all his weight in one foot, "it isn't necessary to be a genius to deduce that you and I collaborating together isn't going to work, so probably it will be better if each of us decides his own plan of action"

Bartolomeo's words made Cavendish feel incredibly annoyed. First, because he honestly thought that Bartolomeo's plan was absolutely stupid. And second, because Bartolomeo stating with such naturalness that he didn't want to work with him bothered Cavendish quite a lot, even if the man was probably right in stating that.

"Yes, of course, trying to sneak in a fortress without having the least idea about what the other one is doing is an excellent idea"

Bartolomeo frowned, not liking Cavendish's purposely sarcastic tone.

"Oh, so do you think that it's a better idea to work together?", he snorted, "sorry, Cabbage, but I pass. With how insufferable you are I'm sure that you'll try to force your plan on me and I've never been very good at following orders"

"Look, do you really think that I want to work with _you_?", Cavendish purposely said the last word in a condescending tone, "I can assure you that I would be very much at ease if I was the only one in charge of this job, but since Rebecca hired both of us _and_ she asked us to collaborate I think that we should do it that way"

"And I think that as long as we obtain the information it doesn't fucking matter what methods we use", Bartolomeo replied stubbornly, visibly pissed off for Cavendish's previous comment, "so sorry if that girl was blind and thought that we could work well together because obviously she was mistaken, so as I've said do whatever the hell you want and I'll do the same"

Cavendish exhaled an exasperated sigh while Bartolomeo walked with determined steps towards the door.

"Alright, but before leaving give me your dendenmushi number so I can call you when _I_ find the information"

Bartolomeo stopped in his tracks just when he was about to leave the room and glared at Cavendish.

"Oh?", Bartolomeo approached Cavendish with his shoulders hunched in his usual threatening position, "so do you really think that you are going to win this competition, Cabbage?"

Cavendish showed a superior smile.

"Theoretically this is not a competition but if you want it to be…", Cavendish leant forward until his nose was practically brushing Bartolomeo's, and even if he could feel his heart beating a little faster than usual for being so close to the other pirate he managed to keep his face imperturbable, "yes, Barto. I _know_ that I'm going to beat you in this"

After some seconds of tense silence in which both pirates had to make an inner effort to keep his eyes locked and not to divert them to a lower body part, Bartolomeo clicked his tongue loudly and separated from Cavendish.

"I'll make you swallow your words, blondie"

After interchanging numbers Bartolomeo finally abandoned the room leaving Cavendish alone. Cavendish exhaled a long sigh, trying to normalize his heart's rate that kept being a little accelerated, and began to get undress. He had just removed his upper clothing and was bending down to remove his pants when the door snapped opened again.

"I forgot my knife"

Cavendish straightened up rapidly while putting his pants on again, but the harm was done. And the fact that he had been undressing with his back turned towards the door just made the situation even more embarrassing.

"What the hell?! Don't you know how to knock?!", Cavendish practically shouted bright red, turning around furiously to find Bartolomeo staring at the place where Cavendish's ass had been a mere second ago, "a-and what are you looking at?"

"Fuck, can you stop acting like an hysterical maiden?", Bartolomeo exclaimed while walking towards his nightstand where his knife was, passing by Cavendish who had grabbed his removed upper clothing and was covering his chest with it, "jeez, you make me feel like some kind rapist acting that way"

"Well, if you weren't ogling me so obviously I wouldn't act this way!"

Bartolomeo snorted while grabbing his weapon.

"It has been you the one who has welcomed me with his ass stuck in the air so there was no way that I could _not_ look at it, although truth to be told it's not the most impressive ass I've seen"

" _OUT_!", Cavendish practically shouted even redder than before when Bartolomeo said those words barely blinking. He threw one of the cushions to the green haired pirate but this one avoided it easily before walking back towards the door.

When he was alone again, Cavendish rubbed his eyes and cursed in a low tone. He was dying to finish that job once and for all.

Meanwhile, outside the room, Bartolomeo took a moment to lean against the wall and let out a deep breath. It was a luck that he used to wear that knife inside his pants. It came really handy to justify the suspicious bulge that had formed in his crotch after seeing Cavendish's bared ass just in front of him.

* * *

Several hours later Cavendish arrived at the shore situated at the foot of the mercenaries' hideout. The edifice that worked as their operations centre was the old residence of one of the first kings of Dressrosa. The edifice had been long abandoned because it was extremely old, and since people didn't dare to approach it because it was at the border of a cliff and looked about to crumble it worked as a perfect hideout, although Cavendidhs thought that the mercenaries had to have some suicidal tendencies because the place couldn't look more unstable.

According to the information of Rebecca's spy there was a hidden entrance in a side wall of the palace. Obviously that was the best option to enter the hideout but the problem was how to reach that entrance, since the only way to access was through an extremely narrow ledge and a wrong step would lead to a rather painful death against the rocks of the cliff. Cavendish exhaled a sigh. If Bartolomeo was there with him he could easily make a barrier with the shape of a staircase to…

Cavendish shook his head. What was he doing wasting his time in thinking about that idiot? He didn't need his help. He was perfectly able to take care of the job himself so he would find another way to enter. Because one thing was clear: he couldn't enter through the front door. Just an idiot would do that.

* * *

Bartolomeo decided to enter through the front door. That was the method that Luffy-senpai would have used and as one of his main fans he was going to do the same. Besides, he was sure that Cavendish would choose to use the entrance that Becca has mentioned and Bartolomeo preferred to avoid that pompous pirate as much as possible. He was tired of the strange reactions that the idiot caused in his body and the less he saw him the better.

The entrance was guarded just by two men that Bartolomeo hadn't any problems to leave unconscious by forming a barrier around his fist and punching them. He decided not to lose time trying to hide the fallen mercenaries and began to search immediately the access to the top floor. Supposedly, there was an elevator somewhere in the first floor that led to the room where the information was kept in a safe.

However, after almost ten minutes of walking around countless corridors and after facing several more mercenaries Bartolomeo realized something: that place was a damn labyrinth and finding that elevator could be way more difficult than he had thought.

* * *

After spending several minutes in the back of the castle searching for a way to enter Cavendish finally found a window that had been covered with wooden planks. He spent another ten minutes removing the planks carefully, taking care not to be heard by any guards, and when he finally entered he immediately knew that Bartolomeo had been there because there was a couple of mercenaries unconscious on the floor.

"Seriously", Cavendish thought with annoyance, successfully deducing the route that Bartolomeo had followed to enter, "I think that I overestimated that guy's intelligence"

Cavendish began to walk through the corridors, changing directions every time that he saw an unconscious form lying on the floor because he didn't want to follow the same path than Bartolomeo. Well, at least it seemed that the guy wasn't making too much noise in taking care of the mercenaries so it seemed that at the end things were going better than expecte…

At that moment an alarm began to sound in all the building.

Cavendish closed his eyes while hearing surprised cries and fast steps approaching his direction.

Yes. Definitely, he had overestimated Bartolomeo's intelligence.

* * *

"Shit shit shit _shit_!"

Bartolomeo ran at full speed down the corridor while cursing nonstop, trying to lose the multiple mercenaries that were after him. He was sure that he could easily beat them but he preferred not to waist energies with such minions, since he didn't know what was going to wait for him in the top floor. Besides, although miraculously, they hadn't recognized him yet thanks to the hood that he was wearing but if he created a barrier his identity would be exposed.

Damn elevator. It had taken him almost fifteen minutes to find the fucking device inside one of the rooms (why the hell was the elevator _inside a room_?!) and when he had entered it to go to the top floor that damn alarm had begun to sound. Shit, maybe if Cavendish had been there with him he would have been able to detect that there was a trap in the elevator's floor, since the guy was always boasting about how perfect and marvelous and intelligent he was and why the hell was he praising _that idiot_?! He hadn't time to waste! He had to find a place to hide until things calmed down and…

Bartolomeo stopped in his tracks when suddenly seeing a trail of red petals in the floor. He blinked a couple of times, confused, before following the path that the petals were forming, and he was about to face palm when seeing that they ended just in front of a door that seemed to belong to a really old supply closet.

"You have to be kidding me…"

Bartolomeo snapped opened the door of the tiny room and crouched just in time to avoid the thrust of Cavendish's sword. Thank goodness that he had good reflexes.

"Damn it, Cabbage, it's _me_ , be careful with that!"

"Bartolomeo?!", Cavendish exclaimed in shock, his eyes opening wide when the green-haired pirate grabbed one his wrists and resumed his running, dragging Cavendish behind unceremoniously, "wait wait wait, what are you doing?!"

"Finding a fucking place to hide"

"I was already hidden, you jer…! Wait, how did you know that I was there?"

"Because you've left a fucking trail of petals behind you, you idiot! And damn, do something about it because you are _still_ leaving petals behind!"

Cavendish exhaled a low curse while extracting some flowers from somewhere inside his cape that he ended throwing them away with certain reluctance because they were beautiful _and_ expensive flowers.

At some point Bartolomeo and Cavendish were forced to change directions when hearing fast steps coming head on. They entered the first room that they saw and when the door closed behind them Bartolomeo created a barrier against the door, locking him and Cavendish inside.

The two pirates held their respective breaths when the handle of the door shook furiously. Some seconds later they heard a mercenary saying something like: ' _This door is locked, there is no way that he has entered here'_ and then the steps slowly vanished.

"Wow, that was close", Bartolomeo whistled just before exhaling a pained gasp when Cavendish punched him in the arm.

" _Idiot_! We've almost been discovered because of you!"

"Okay, I admit that the alarm has been my fault but at least I was trying to do something. What the hell were you doing meanwhile? Staring at yourself in one of the mirrors of the palace?"

"No, genius. Thanks to you and your incompetence the only thing that I was able to do was to hide!"

"Oh, so did it take you like _twenty minutes_ to enter here? Not bad, Cabbage, not bad"

"Alright, can you tell me what are exactly the advantages of being the first one in entering here if the only thing that you do is to walk around and to activate a fucking alarm?!"

"W-Well, at least I've found the elevator to the top floor!"

"An elevator that we can't use anymore because this damn place is infested with guards!"

Bartolomeo was about to reply but at that moment they heard more mercenaries passing by so he was forced to guard silence.

However, it seemed that the pause that followed helped both of the pirates to calm down a little because when Cavendish spoke again the sarcasm was gone from his voice.

"Alright, we can keep arguing until someone eventually finds us here but I think that doing that isn't going to solve anything"

Bartolomeo exhaled a sigh.

"Yeah, you have a point there"

Cavendish crossed his arms, thinking deeply. A part of him feared the consequences of what he was about to ask but at the end he decided to risk.

"Listen, Bartolomeo…", the named one looked at Cavendish with surprise when hearing his light hesitant tone, "what about doing what we supposedly had to do from the start and we try to work together? I know that you don't like the idea one bit, and I don't particularly like it either, but at this point we don't have many options if we want to finish the mission. I promise that I'll do my best in not being 'too insufferable' if in exchange you promise to listen to me _and_ not to do anything stupid again like entering through the front door without thinking. Deal?"

Cavendish offered his hand to Bartolomeo. There was a brief silence in which Cavendish thought that Bartolomeo was going to reject his proposition again but eventually the pirate stretched the hand with his usual rudeness.

"Okay, deal. So what do we do now? We could try to use the elevator since now we know where it is but probably you're right when saying that there will be mercenaries guarding it"

"No, it's too risky. But we could use the hidden entrance that Rebecca mentioned"

"What? I thought that you have used it to enter here"

Cavendish shook his head.

"It was a little suicidal to try to reach it. However, we could do it if you created a barrier outside the building. Do you think you can do that?"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Hell yeah. Remember that you are talking with the master of the barriers. Doing that will be a piece of cake"

Cavendish suppressed the urge to roll his eyes when Bartolomeo approached the window of that same room oozing overconfidence. He really hoped that the pirate knew what he was doing because his life was going to be in his hands.

"Okay…", Bartolomeo opened the window and after making a quick calculation he interlaced his fingers, "here I go!"

In a moment, there was green transparent platform that began just under the window and went around the building.

"It's safe, right?", Cavendish asked, feeling his heart skip a beat when seeing Bartolomeo jump out of the window to land in his barrier.

"Yep, completely safe", Bartolomeo reassured while Cavendish stepped outside the window as well with all the grace he was able to gather, "As long as I don't release my fingers, of course"

Cavendish clicked his tongue while beginning to follow Bartolomeo.

"In that case you better not get distracted because I wouldn't like to die young"

"Well, thirty is not such a bad age to die for a pirate"

"I'm just _twenty-six_ , you idiot!"

"Oh, so you are older than me! Then from now on I'll call you Old Cabbage!"

"Damn, if it wasn't because you have to be concentrated on the barrier I'd make you pay for that!"

"What were you saying, Old Cabbage?"

" _Don't call me old!_ "

They didn't stop quarreling until reaching the side of the building. It took them a while to locate the hidden entrance since it consisted of an old window that had been blocked long time ago, and since Bartolomeo couldn't use another barrier it was Cavendish the one in charge of opening it again by using his sword.

When they finally managed to enter they found themselves in a narrow spiral staircase that ended in a rather wide and illuminated hall at the top of the palace. Cavendish frowned suspiciously when he didn't see any mercenaries guarding the decorated door that was at the other side of the room. It was true that probably most part of the them were in the lower floors searching for him and Bartolomeo but still it was weird that there was _no one_ there.

"Okay, it seems that we've found the place. Let's go to grab that info"

"Wait wait wait!", Cavendish grabbed Bartolomeo by the back of his cape and forced the pirate to stop.

"What now?", Bartolomeo asked with impatience.

"For goodness sake, don't you see anything suspicious about this floor? It's shouting TRAP in capital letters!"

"Well, then I must be deaf because I don't hear anything"

Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo when hearing his ironic answer. Without saying a word Cavendish extracted one rose from his cape (yes, he hadn't had the nerve to get rid of all of them before) and with an exaggerated movement he threw it so it ended in the middle of the hall.

At that moment, multiples darts began to fly from one wall to the opposite, and they didn't stop appearing until the rose touched the floor.

"Convinced?"

Bartolomeo, whose eyes had opened at its maximum after seeing the rain of darts, turned to look at Cavendish without bothering to hide his amazement.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks. You've just saved my ass"

Cavendish exhaled a superior chuckle, but the truth was that hearing Bartolomeo thank him with such sincerity had made him feel rather good.

Indeed, maybe it was just Cavendish's imagination but it seemed the tension that had been accompanying them since their conversation of the previous night had subsided a little.

"You can keep admiring me later but now, please, could you make a barrier around us so that we can reach the door without multiple holes in our bodies?"

Bartolomeo snorted while creating a barrier that covered Cavendish and himself.

"Follow me, _blondie_ ", Bartolomeo said with a scornful tone that contrasted with the impressed smile that kept adorning his face.

"After you, _punk_ ", Cavendish answered in the same tone, forcing back the smile that also threatened to appear in his lips.

The darts began to fly again when Bartolomeo and Cavendish began to walk through the hall but thanks to Bartolomeo's barrier they could reach the door without any problems.

"I have to admit that your power is rather useful in certain situations", Cavendish commented when they were inside the room: an ancient study full of bookcases and with a big wooden desk in the middle of it.

"The great Cavendish of the White Horse saying something good about someone who isn't himself?", Bartolomeo said with a teasing ironic tone while beginning to inspect the shelves, "that's something new"

Cavendish half-closed his eyes and Bartolomeo, who simply smirked at him, but before the blonde pirate could reply his eyes got fixed in a painting that was just in the middle of two bookcases and that clearly was out of place.

"What?", Bartolomeo asked with curiosity, staring at the same place than Cavendish.

"Alright, I don't think that it's that easy but just in case…"

Cavendish approached the painting and removed it, and he was about to laugh when seeing that he had been right.

"Hah? Is that the safe?", Bartolomeo asked incredulously, "okay, hasn't it been too easy to find?"

"Maybe they thought that no one would be able to enter here"

Cavendish approached his ear to the safe dial and began to slowly rotate it. It just took him a couple of minutes to find the correct combination.

"Well…", Cavendish grinned when the safe was opened and a single envelop lied inside, "since it's me the one who has found the safe I'll let you do the honors, Barto"

"Yeah, but who has been the one whose power allowed us to be here right now, Cabbage?", Bartolomeo asked casually, opening the envelop and verifying that it was exactly what they were looking for.

"Okay, that's true. In that case when we'll divide the reward I'll allow you to have the thirty per cent"

"Hah! Keep dreaming. We'll go fifty-fifty or nothing"

Cavendish closed the safe again and was about to keep protesting about the division of the reward when suddenly an alarm even louder than the previous one began to sound, startling the two pirates.

"What the hell?!", Bartolomeo exclaimed covering his ears.

"Damn it, it seems that I've activated something when closing the safe again. We have to leave _now_!"

Cavendish ran towards the door but when he tried to open it, it didn't move one inch.

"Shit!", Cavendish struggled with the door a little more but it was useless, "shit, Bartolomeo, come here and help me with this. It isn't opening!"

"I have a better idea"

Cavendish turned around just in time to see Bartolomeo open the window of the room.

"Are you going to create another barrier?", Cavendish approached Bartolomeo, who was looking outside the window with a concentrated look, "but we are really far from the ground now, will you be able to do it…?"

 _…without ending hurt_ , Cavendish wanted to add, but he didn't complete the sentence.

Just at that moment both pirates heard several steps approaching from the direction of the hall.

"I think that we don't have any other choice anymore", Bartolomeo said with a cheery tone that contrasted with the rather complicated situation that they were facing, "get prepared to jump when I say, Cabbage"

Bartolomeo interlaced his fingers and a barrier that looked exactly like a circular slide began to slowly take form.

"Three…"

Cavendish settled his hand on his sword when the voices of the mercenaries came closer.

"Two…"

Bartolomeo stepped in the windowsill with certain effort, trying to have a better view to know where he had to direct his barrier, and Cavendish suppressed a gulp when noticing the way the Bartolomeo's voice sounded a little breathless. It seemed that he had been right. Creating such a big barrier was affecting Bartolomeo. In fact, the man was unusually pale.

"Bartolomeo, we have still time to find another way ou…"

"There is not time. One…"

At that moment Cavendish clearly heard a mercenary at the other side of the door saying something like ' _They are here_!', so he stepped on the windowsill just next to Bartolomeo, who looked pretty close to faint despite he was managing to keep his stance.

Cavendish gulped with guiltiness. Damn it, if he hadn't just activated that last alarm…

"Bartolomeo, are you sure that you…?"

" _Now_!"

Just when the handle was being lowered, Bartolomeo pushed Cavendish outside the window causing the blonde pirate to let out a squeak while landing in the slider. He had never liked that kind of attractions, not even when he was a chuld, so during all the descent he didn't stop shouting for even one second.

On the contrary Bartolomeo didn't stop laughing, although Cavendish didn't know if the pirate was laughing because he was having fun or because he was mocking him. Honestly, at that moment Cavendish didn't care. He only wanted to reach the ground safe and sound and he was even praying for that to happen.

The slide finished just in the shore where Cavendish had begun, and even if it was rather improbable that the mercenaries were able to catch them at that point both pirates ran until reaching the city again.

Bartolomeo and Cavendish walked fast through the streets (keeping running would be too suspicious) until finding an abandoned alley. When they were sure that there was no one around they practically stomped onto the ground, sitting with their backs leaning against opposite walls, facing each other.

They spent some more moments in silence, breathing laboredly, and when their eyes met after some seconds both began to laugh at the same moment, their accumulated adrenaline liberating at once.

"Shit, that has been close", Bartolomeo exhaled still a little breathless.

"Too close", Cavendish agreed, closing his eyes while letting his head fall back against the wall, "but I think that they haven't seen us at the end"

They spent some more seconds in silence, simply recovering his breathing.

"Hey, Old Cabbage"

Cavendish sighed with his eyes still closed. He opened them to glare at Bartolomeo to demand him to stop calling him old but then he saw the surprising amicable smile that Bartolomeo was offering him. Or well, all the amicable that it could be the smile of someone with sharp teeth and fangs.

"It seems that we don't make such a bad team after all. Who knows, maybe when this job finishes I offer you a place in the Barto Club"

Cavendish huffed pretending to be offended by the offer, but against his will a tiny smile ended showing up in his face.

"Well, thanks for the incredible offer but I remind you that I have my own crew already", Cavendish answered with an ironic tone, "and sorry but I don't plan to let you join my crew"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh.

"I can't blame you for that. I would be a little out of place in a crew whose name is the Beautiful Pirates"

Cavendish didn't know why but hearing Bartolomeo comment that with such naturalness irritated him a little. Alright, it was true that probably 'beautiful' was not the first word that came to your mind to describe Bartolmeo, but if you paid attention to the man he wasn't ugly.

In fact, even if Cavendish considered that his standards were rather high, he seriously thought that Bartolomeo had his own particular attractiveness. And definitely he had a rather enviable body, he still remembered how surprised he had been when seeing how muscular the man was under that horrible coat that he was always wearing…

And okay, he should probably abandon that line of thought before it became too weird.

"I wasn't meaning it that way", Cavendish spoke with more vehemence that he had intended, startling Bartolomeo a little, "I don't want you in my crew because you aren't able to appreciate my greatness. It doesn't have anything to do with being beautiful or not"

 _Because you're pretty acceptable_ , Cavendish thought to himself without saying it, but for the way Bartolomeo smiled with amusement it seemed that the pirate had somewhat guessed what Cavendish had been about to say.

"Alright, I think that we should contact Rebecca", Cavendish suggested maybe too hastily while standing up, "she will be happy to see that we've managed to obtain that information"

Bartolomeo grunted in agreement while standing up as well. They began to walk down the street.

"You know, after a job is well done I always go with my men for a drink. But considering your alcohol resistance maybe it's not such a good idea…"

Cavendish's heart skipped a beat, not expecting at all that Bartolomeo brought up that incident again.

He looked at Bartolomeo and found the man smirking teasingly at him. Okay, there were two forms to answer to Bartolomeo's obvious provocation: to pretend not to catch what the man was implying, or to purposely play the game.

Cavendish knew that the prudent one was to choose the first. And for that reason, the hell he knew why he chose the second.

"Don't worry, this time I'll make sure to control myself", Cavendish made sure to adopt a casual tone, "after all I know how sexy I am and probably someone with a clear lack of self-control and decency could be tempted to take advantage of me…"

It was Cavendish's turn to smirk when seeing Bartolomeo inhale deeply.

"Has someone ever told you that you are way wickeder than you look at first glance?"

Cavendish let out a soft chuckle, feeling unusually satisfied when hearing Bartolomeo say that with a somewhat impressed tone.

"Is it just me or you have tried to make a compliment with that?"

Bartolomeo laughed and dug his hands on his pockets.

"Yeah, it is a compliment. I like you most when you stop being the charming pretty boy that everyone adores"

Cavendish clicked his tongue, self-convincing himself that his heart hadn't skipped a beat when hearing the word 'like' coming from Bartolomeo's lips.

"Well, you are also cooler when you are not being a pig or drooling in front of the Straw Hats"

"Hey, I don't drool! I just admire them deeply!"

"No, _I_ admire them. _You_ are obsessed. There is a clear difference"

"Whatever you say, Cabbage, but why does it bother you that I admire them?"

"I-It doesn't bother me at all, I just…what's that smirk for?"

"Naaathing, I've just got it: you are _jealous_ that I admire them more than I admire you"

"WHAT?! I couldn't care less about whom you admire or not!"

"Don't get angry, Cabbage, I also think that you are a pretty awesome pirate as well when you finally stop boasting about how great you are"

"…A-As I've said I don't care about it at all"

"Then if you don't care why are you about to smile?"

"I'm _not_ …"

"And you are a little red as well"

" _Bartolomeo_!"

"Sssh, don't say my name, people can't know that we are working together in this"

"Argh, it's the last time that I work with a _punk_ "

"Tsk, it will be your loss, _prince_ "

* * *

Cavendish and Bartolomeo kept quarreling childishly all the way towards the inn, and they were surprised to find Rebecca already there. It seemed that the girl had been walking around the city waiting for their call and the moment Cavendish had contacted her he didn't lose any time in coming there.

Also, the girl had been kind enough to bring them some dinner that definitely didn't belong to the inn since it tasted too good, so after giving Rebecca the envelope with the information that she had solicited Bartolomeo and Cavendish proceeded to tell her how the mission had gone, although omitting certain details like the alarms that both Bartolomeo and Cavendish had activated and the non-important-at-all fact that they had begun the mission separately .

"Thank you so much for this", Rebecca said with a grateful smile when they finished eating, "I knew that I could count on you"

"Yeah, at the end it hasn't been that bad to work together", Cavendish almost spat his drink when Bartolomeo patted his back amicably, "this pompous pirate is unusually skilled at finding and opening safes"

"Of course I am skilled. I'm not just a pretty face", Cavendish cleared his throat before speaking again, "a-and Bartolomeo's barrier has been quite useful as well. If it hadn't been for him we wouldn't have been able to abandon the palace"

"Cabbage, I think you should stop drinking. You are quite red now…or maybe it's not for the alcohol?"

"O-Obviously it's for the alcohol, you idiot, what are you insinuating?!"

At that moment Rebecca giggled, causing both pirates to look at her with surprise.

"I see that you have become even more friends. I'm glad that you get along so well"

"I don't get along with this guy!", Cavendish exclaimed, managing to redden a little more.

"Yeah, we just don't hate each other as much as before, that's all", Bartolomeo said with a wide smile that caused Rebecca to giggle again.

"Well…in that case…", Rebecca's smile turned apologetic, "…may I be a little more selfish and ask your help for another little favor?"

Cavendish and Bartolomeo interchanged a glance before looking at the girl again.

"What's the matter?", Cavendish asked with curiosity.

"Well, remember when I told you that we didn't know what had happened with our spy?", when Cavendish and Bartolomeo nodded the girl continued, "he has contacted us this morning. He hadn't been able to contact us sooner because some of the mercenaries had changed locations to another place. And there is more", Rebecca took a deep breath, "It seems that the information that you have recovered is incomplete"

"Incomplete?", Bartolomeo repeated with a frown

"Yes, according to our spy it seems that the codified information was divided in three parts so that it could be more difficult to steal. Consequently…", Rebecca raised the envelop in the air and shook it softly, "this is just one of the three parts. Another two still remains"

A long silence fell in the room.

"So…", Cavendish began with a cautious tone, "…do you want us to recover the other two parts?"

Rebecca bit his bottom lip and spoke with a tiny tone.

"If it's not too much trouble. I know that I'm asking too much, and you have all the rights to reject this petition. After all, you didn't even have to agree on helping me in the first place so you have already done more than enough. But since you've worked so well together I was wondering if you wouldn't mind to do it again. I _do_ promise that it's the last time that I ask you for help"

Another silence fell in the room, longer than the previous one.

Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo. Bartolomeo looked back at Cavendish. And then, they looked at Rebecca and spoke at the same time.

"Well, if there is no other solution I don't mind to…"

"Yeah, I suppose that it's not so bad to…"

"… _work with this idiot again_ "

Both pirates said the last sentence at unison, causing Rebecca to chuckle with amusement.

"Don't worry, it will be another nice reward waiting for you", the girl extracted from her bag two envelops that he handled to Cavendish and Bartolomeo, "here is your pay for the job. I've divided the money in two but if you have decided another division…"

"It's okay like this"

"You sure, Cabbage? Didn't you say that you deserved more?"

"Yes, but I'm feeling generous tonight"

Bartolomeo snorted while taking his part when hearing Cavendish's condescending tone, but the way the blonde pirate was suppressing a smile told Bartolomeo that he had just said that to annoy him.

"Alright then, since everything is settled I'll leave", Rebecca stood up from her chair, "I guess that you're tired right now so let's meet tomorrow to discuss the details of the new mission. And regarding this room…", Rebecca showed an apologetic expression, "I've asked the owner for another room with separated beds but I'm afraid that they haven't any other room available at this moment so do you mind to keep sleeping together? I mean in the same bed, obviously. I'm not suggesting that you're sleeping together in the other way. Or are you?"

Rebecca burst out laughing when seeing the way Bartolomeo and Cavendish's mouths fell opened.

"It was just a joke! Rest well. I'll see you tomorrow"

* * *

After Rebecca closed the door behind her, her last apparent innocent question kept floating in the air, and Bartolomeo felt the tension settling between Cavendish and him once again, even more powerful than before.

"S-So…", Bartolomeo began with a light awkward tone, "do you want to try to change rooms just in case?"

"N-No, if Rebecca has said that there isn't any other room I'll trust her"

A heavy and awkward silence fell between the two pirates, and Cavendish was the one who broke it speaking with an obviously nervous tone.

"I'm going to hit the shower"

Cavendish practically stomped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Bartolomeo let out a long sigh and dropped into the bed, his arms extended perpendicular on either side of his body.

Damn it, things were beginning to get out of control. And the fact that Rebecca's joke had made him picture himself and Cavendish using the bed with a completely different purpose than resting was bad. Really bad.

Shit.

He really wanted Cavendish.

It was weird as hell and he was still assimilating it but there was no point in keeping denying the evident.

It was true that Cavendish kept getting on his nerves with that arrogant attitude of his, and sometimes Bartolomeo really wanted to kill him for being too insufferable. But he couldn't help it: since what was about to happen in Orlumbus' ship, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the idiot.

Bartolomeo cursed in a low tone. Who knows, maybe everything was simpler than he thought. Maybe he just needed to sleep with Cavendish once or twice to forget the pirate once and for all, but somehow Bartolomeo suspected that his attraction for Cavendish wasn't purely sexual.

And Bartolomeo wasn't blind. He had noticed the way Cavendish got jealous whenever he mentioned his admiration for the Straw Hats. And he hadn't missed the way Cavendish had been staring at him the previous night when sleeping shirtless. And that same day, during the mission, when he had almost exhausted himself while doing the last barrier Cavendish had shown worry for him as well. So it was really probable that Cavendish was having the same doubts than him.

Bartolomeo stood up from the bed and proceeded to remove his cloak before lying on the bed again in the same posture than the previous day, his arms behind his head.

He let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. He had made up his mind. For now, he would wait a little, to see how things were advancing between Cavendish and im. But the moment he was sure that Cavendish wanted the same as him he would made the move. He was already tired of that nerve-wrecking tension that was floating between them and he planned to destroy it one way or another.

* * *

Ten minutes had passed since Cavendish had showered and changed into a more decent pajama than the one he used the previous night, but he didn't dare to leave the bathroom yet.

Damn Rebecca, why had she said something like that? Because of that joke, things got back to be awkward between Bartolomeo and him, and the worst part was that they had to share a bed again.

Cavendish took a deep breath, feeling his heart beating way too fast inside his chest.

Damn it.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

He didn't want to admit it. He _really_ didn't want to admit it. It was something so unrealistic, so out of his own character, that he couldn't even understand it. But he couldn't keep lying to himself.

He liked Bartolomeo.

He had been suspecting it since he behaved so shamelessly around him when being drunk, because it was not the first time that he had got drunk and never, not even when he had been in company with a cute lady, he had lost control like that.

And putting aside that he thought that Bartolomeo was rather sexy in his own particular way, and even if he admitted that sometimes he had serious problems to look at Bartolomeo in the eyes when the man decided to go half-naked because his body was way too hot, Cavendish suspected that his feelings for the pirate weren't exclusively physical, because when that day during that mission Bartolomeo had risked himself when doing that last barrier, he had been really worried for him. And worrying about others wasn't something that Cavendish used to do unless it was someone really dear to him.

And also, Cavendish suspected that Bartolomeo could be feeling the same way about him. Okay, maybe it was him trying to feel better and wanting not to be the only one in feeling that way, but sometimes when Bartolomeo teased him, Cavendish felt that it was like a childish way to _flirt_ with him. And despite he was always showing his annoyance when Bartolomeo behaved that way, a part of him didn't dislike those attentions.

Cavendish let out a loud sigh and palmed his own cheeks twice. It was the time to come back to the room. And he had to be prepared to see Bartolomeo shirtless and not to stare at him too obviously, because it was a miracle if Bartolomeo hadn't noticed it yet.

And about his feelings for the pirate, definitely Cavendish wasn't going to be the first one in admitting them. Besides, he had to think about his reputation as well. He was Cavendish of the White Horse. The Pirate Prince. The captain of the Beautiful Pirates. He had to think about what people would think if he ended with Bartolomeo the Cannibal. So probably the better solution was to push aside those feelings. Or even better: to make them disappear. Yes, that was probably for the best, so he would try with all his forces that last method.

After exhaling a last deep breath Cavendish left the bathroom. As he was expect…fearing, Bartolomeo was already lying on the bed, half-naked and looking directly at him.

"Aren't you going to take a shower?", Cavendish asked, praising himself when his voice sounded acceptably normal. And in fact, he thought that his way of lying on the bed next to Bartolomeo had been perfect and that his nervousness was barely noticeable.

"Nah, I don't stink yet"

Cavendish rolled his eyes when hearing the answer. Well, as long as the pirate kept doing that kind of comments there was not risk of Cavendish's attraction being too obvious.

"By the way, Cabbage, I know that I always ask you the same but about Hakuba…"

"Don't worry, he won't appear tonight. But if you don't trust me you can put a barrier around me. I'm already used to it"

Bartolomeo snorted when hearing Cavendish's resigned tone.

"Nah, I think that I've done enough barriers for today"

Cavendish felt a wave of guiltiness assaulting him, and before even thinking he spoke.

"Sorry", Bartolomeo looked at him with surprise, "it was me the one who activated that last alarm. And that forced you to create such a big barrier"

Bartolomeo stared at Cavendish in silence for a couple of seconds before exhaling a laugh.

"Well, I activated an alarm too so we are tied. And don't worry, Cabbage, I'm very tough: I just need to rest and tomorrow I'll be in perfect condition"

"I'm not worried about you", Cavendish lied immediately, "I-I just didn't want you to end hurt because of me"

Cavendish blushed when seeing Bartolomeo's amused smile. Shit, trying to fix the sentence just had made it sound more romantic!

"A-Anyway, we were talking about Hakuba, and as I've said he isn't going to appear. But if you don't trust me I can try to ask for a single room to owner so…"

"Nah, I'll trust you"

Cavendish insulted himself internally when Bartolomeo's words made him feel just a little happy.

"But just out of curiosity, since when your scary friend is with you?"

"Oh", Cavendish was surprised, not expecting that question, "I think he has been with me as long as I remember. However, when I was a kid he wasn't as violent as he is now. He just liked to prepare pranks at night that normally consisted of disorganizing the other's clothing or placing a bucket of water over the door so that people ended drenched. There were rather innocent pranks"

Bartolomeo chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, compared to how he is now he was a damn saint"

A brief silence fell between them, but this time it didn't carry any awkwardness, and that was what made Cavendish ask something that had been rounding his head.

"And what about your fangs?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish confused.

"What about them?"

"I mean, were you born with them? Or you…umh… modified them somehow?"

Bartolomeo blinked twice before beginning to laugh.

"H-Hey, what's so funny?", Cavendish asked offended, blushing a little.

"Sorry, but no one has asked me before if I had modified my own teeth", Bartolomeo said after calming down, "no, I haven't modified them, they are natural. My great-grandfather was a shark-type mermen and I inherited them from him"

"Oh", Cavendish said with an impressed tone, "it wouldn't have occurred to me that you had mermen blood"

"Yeah, well, no one knows about it"

Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo in disbelief.

"No one? Not even your crew?"

Bartolomeo shook his head.

"Nope"

Cavendish gulped.

"And why have you told me then?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish in silence for a couple of seconds before shrugging.

"Felt like it"

Cavendish felt his heart begin to pound rapidly again. He knew something about Bartolomeo that no one else knew. Damn, why did he feel so happy about it?

"But hey, maybe it's better that way", Bartolomeo said with a nonchalant tone, closing his eyes again with the intention to finally go to sleep, "after all people already thinks that I'm super scary because of my fangs, so if they knew that I have mermen blood in my veins maybe I would end becoming way too scary"

Cavendish bit his bottom lip.

He knew that what he was about to do was stupidly risky. But he wanted to do it. It was something that he wanted to fix.

"About your fangs being scary…"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish with curiosity when this one stopped talking.

"Yeah?"

Cavendish gulped.

It was a mistake.

What he was going to say was a mistake if he didn't want to complicate things with Bartolomeo.

"Cabbage?"

Damn. He was really an idiot!

"I lied", Bartolomeo frowned confused when Cavendish snapped those words, "a month ago, when you asked me if I thought that your fangs were beautiful and I said that they were scary, I lied. I mean, I _do_ think that they are a little scary but not in a bad way. And…I think that they are somewhat pretty. And that they suit you rather well"

Cavendish thought that he was prepared for the tension that he was going to come but it was way more intense than he had anticipated. And the fact that Bartolomeo's eyes were glinting in a completely new way while looking at him, as if the pirate was making a titanic effort to hold back a rather primal urge, just made Cavendish's heart beat faster, a shiver traveling down his spine.

Damn, Cavendish thought. It had been a bad idea. A really bad idea. But then…why was he feeling such anticipation right then?

"And…", Cavendish gulped. Damn, Bartolomeo speaking with such an unexpected serious tone was making him extremely nervous, "…a month ago, did you lie about something else?"

Cavendish gulped. He knew perfectly what Bartolomeo was insinuating. Damn, he didn't know that he was able to be so subtle.

"No. I didn't"

Bartolomeo half-closed his eyes at him, leaning towards Cavendish a little more.

"You sure?"

Bartolomeo diverted momentarily his eyes from Cavendish's eyes to his mouth, making Cavendish automatically do the same.

Damn, Cavendish thought, he couldn't do it. He couldn't admit that he liked Bartolomeo. And what's more, that he was indeed curious about how having sex with Bartolomeo would feel. Because once he admitted that, there was no way back. And Cavendish didn't feel prepared for that.

"Yes. Rather sure"

Bartolomeo stared at Cavendish for a couple of seconds that seemed eternal to Cavendish until finally moving away.

"Kay. Just wanted to be sure"

Cavendish suppressed a relieved sigh.

Shit. That had been close. If the previous silence would have lasted just a little more maybe they would have ended kis…no no no, he better not think about that.

"I think we should rest", Cavendish said after clearing is throat, "tomorrow Rebecca is going to come here early"

Bartolomeo grunted in agreement. Cavendish was about to finally go to sleep turning his back to Bartolomeo when suddenly the pirate spoke again.

"By the way, Cabbage…"

Cavendish gulped, fearing what Bartolomeo was going to ask.

"…Yes?", he asked hesitantly.

"I lied this morning too. I think that you have quite an impressive ass"

Cavendish blushed intensely and turned around to hit a rather smirking Bartolomeo in the chest, causing the green-haired pirate to let out a pained gasp before exhaling a teasing chuckle.

"Asshole", Cavendish snapped, but he was suppressing the urge to laugh in relief because that comment had made their sexual tension vanish completely. Or at least, almost completely.

"Hey, I just owed you a confession!"

"Tsk, yeah sure", Cavendish turned his back towards Bartolomeo again, "goodnight, Bartolomeo"

"Goodnight, Cavendish"

Cavendish felt his heart skip a beat when Bartolomeo called him for his name.

Shit.

Putting aside his feelings for that idiot was going to be tougher than expected.

* * *

 **I love matchmaker!Rebecca ^^ And things have finally advanced between Barto and Cabbage despite this last one wants to keep being in denial :D**  
 **Be prepared for more sexual tension in the next chapter, and don't hesitate in telling me what you think ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Cavendish and Bartolomeo go to steal the second part of the information. Cavendish tries to keep denying his attraction for Bartolomeo but he discovers that it's not as easy as he had thought.**

 _ **Note: I suck at describing fights so sorry if that part of the fic is a little rushed ^^U**_

* * *

"Sooo long story short now we have to sneak into that storehouse and steal another of those letters, right?"

"For goodness sake, Bartolomeo: Rebecca has been talking about how to infiltrate in the place for almost an hour and you've just understood that?!"

"Mmm…weeell I know that she has mentioned something about some kind of code to enter the building…"

"Some kind of…? She has given us the password! What the hell do you mean with ' _some kind of code_ '?!"

"…and something about avoiding the first floor because there are a lot of alarms…"

"That's _not_ the floor we should avoid!"

"…and something about not entering a certain room in the basement because there will probably be a lot of guards…"

" _Certain room_? You didn't even remember the name of the room?!", Cavendish buried his head between his hands and let out an exasperated loud sigh, "oh my god, I was wrong last night when agreeing that we could make a good team, there is no way that I'm going to do the job with you! I don't want to end killed for having such a stupid partner and…"

Cavendish uncovered his face when Rebecca burst out laughing.

"Cavendish-san, Bartolomeo was just fooling you right now!"

Cavendish almost broke his neck when turning his head to look at Bartolomeo, who was smiling teasingly at him.

"The code for the door is 'J0k3r'. The second floor is the one we have to avoid, together with the access to the basement of the first floor since that's the place where the information we must steal is. Aaand about the door we have to avoid, it's the one with the word 'Office' written on it because it's a trap: the 'Maintenance Room' is the room we are looking for"

Cavendish blinked twice, slowly. Then, he grabbed Bartolomeo by the front of his coat and began to shake him.

"And if you knew all that from the start why the hell have you pretended not to know?!", Cavendish shouted, bright red for having been mocked.

"Because seeing you acting so hysterically is really funny", Bartolomeo replied simply while Revecca placed a hand over her mouth in a useless attempt to hide her giggles.

Cavendish opened and closed his mouth trying to find something to say that wasn't a rather improper insult but at the end he simply released Bartolomeo with a brusque gesture while clicking his tongue disapprovingly.

"Tsk", Cavendish crossed one of his long legs over the other one and his arms over his chest, "you are worse than a child"

"And you are worse than an offended old lady"

" _Excuse me_?! Who are you calling _old lady_?"

"Oh please, look at you: sitting all straight with such a high-and-mighty attitude…"

"Well, if the alternative is looking like _you_ I definitely prefer to look like a lady"

Rebecca began to laugh again, making the two pirates stop quarreling.

"You definitely make an awesome couple", she said with a wide smile, "I knew that I did the correct thing by contacting you both"

"Yeah, well", Cavendish's dignified stance was broken when Bartolomeo hooked an arm around his shoulders rudely, "this guy is not so bad when he is not being an insufferable diva"

Cavendish glared at him through half-closed eyes but when realizing how damn close his face was to Bartolomeo's he pushed the pirate away, his heart beating slightly faster.

"And you aren't that annoying when you take things seriously but oh, wait, since that never happens you are _always_ annoying"

When Rebecca managed to make the two pirates stop flirt…quarrelling they continued talking about the mission during almost another half-an-hour. After that, the girl wished them luck and abandoned the room, leaving the pirates alone.

"So again we have to wait until this afternoon to act", Bartolomeo yawned loudly and scratched the back of his head, "what are you going to do until then?"

"I think that I'm going to take Farul", Cavendish stood up from the bed, "the new hideout is in the opposite side of the city so it will be faster if we ride until there", Cavendish realized the way Bartolomeo was looking at him with his eyes opened at its maximum, "what?"

"Are you saying that you are going to let me ride in your horse?"

Bartolomeo's astonished tone made Cavendish blush lightly.

"W-Well, obviously this is just an exception", Cavendish cleared his throat, "Normally no other than me is allowed to mount such an exquisite creature that only fits with my splendid image but given the circumstances we don't have much options so…"

Cavendish blushed even more when seeing Bartolomeo quirk a skeptic eyebrow with amusement.

"Okay, you know what? If you don't want to ride my horse you are free to spend the next hours going to the hideout on foot while…"

"Easy, Cabbage,I haven't said that", Bartolomeo replied, "Even if I think that that animal has your same bad personality as long as he doesn't bite me it'll be cool"

Cavendish huffed, pushing back his hair with an exaggerated gesture.

"As long as you don't give him motives he won't bite you. Probably"

Bartolomeo snorted and lied back on the bed facing up while Cavendish grabbed his riding hood and put it on.

"Kay, in that case I'll be waiting here until you bring that horse of yours"

Cavendish rolled his eyes with patience while Bartolomeo yawned again and closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep once again.

"I'm taking the key of the room", he announced, "have the dendenmushi in hand just in case"

When the door closed behind Bartolomeo this one exhaled a long sigh and opened his eyes again.

Shit, he was glad that Rebecca had come to see them so early in the morning, because when he had woken up and had seen the way Cavendish looked still asleep, with his pink lips half-parted and his loose pajama shirt a little messed up and letting one of his nipples on full display…godammit, he had felt the imperious necessity to kiss that damn idiot. And who was he kidding, to do way more than kissing too.

Bartolomeo took a deep breath and hit his own cheeks. Damn, he was having more and more difficulties in keeping his stupid desire for that idiot in check. The previous night when Cavendish had confessed that he had lied a month ago about his teeth…damn, he had been about to lose his cool and jump into the man at that moment, but the face that Cavendish had put after that made him control himself.

Because okay, Bartolomeo had his suspicions about Cavendish feeling attracted to him, but for some reason it seemed that Cavendish was somehow denying it. The fact that Cavendish had clearly avoided Bartolomeo's insinuation the previous night proved it, so well, maybe at the end he was mistaken and he was the only one who was wasting his time thinking about the whole matter.

Bartolomeo grunted with annoyance and turned to his side again trying to sleep this time for real. Definitely, the next time he saw a sign of weakness on Cavendish that confirmed him that that pompous idiot was interested in him he would immediately exploit it because he was really tired of acting like a fucking princess in an unrequited love story.

* * *

Two hours later Cavendish was already with Farul walking back towards the inn. Fortunately, his horse wasn't as recognizable as him so as long as Cavendish kept his face hidden no one would discover his identity. Or at least he hoped so.

After leaving Farul outside the inn, Cavendish climbed up the stairs that lead to the second floor and when being in front of his room he stopped for a moment. Damn it, why the hell did he get all nervous for seeing Bartolomeo again? Well, Cavendish knew why: because somehow that man that he had always called a dumb seemed to read him better than anyone and that made Cavendish incredibly uncomfortable.

But well, Cavendish thought while exhaling a deep breath, as long as he didn't make another mistake like allowing Bartolomeo to ride his horse (why hadn't he realized before that it was going to be extremely weird to do that?!) everything would be fine.

Cavendish used the key on the door and opened it. Bartolomeo kept being in the bed, and for the way he was snoring loudly it was evident that he was completely asleep. Cavendish made sure to stare at Bartolomeo for a long minute, since by fixing in his brain the way that idiot slept, sprawled in the bed with a total lack of refinement and his mouth practically opened with his tongue hanging lightly for one of his sides, maybe he managed to forget his stupid crush on him…

…but damn, it wasn't working! Even like that he couldn't help to find funny the way Bartolomeo was sleeping, instead of feeling disgust.

Cavendish clicked his tongue and decided to wake Bartolomeo before keeping having stupid thoughts about him.

"Okay, time to wake up"

Cavendish clapped his hands twice but Bartolomeo didn't react.

So the idiot was dead sleep. Great.

"Bartolomeo…", Cavendish clapped his hands more loudly but again, no response, "oh please, don't tell me that I'm going to have to shake you until you wake u… _AH_!"

Cavendish didn't know with what he had tripped, but the result was that while trying to approach the bed he stepped on something that made him land in the bed, and although he managed to put his hands on the surface before connecting with Bartolomeo the result was the worst case scenario, since his face ended extremely close to Bartolomeo's crotch.

Well, at least that idiot wasn't…

"Wow, Cabbagge…"

…awake.

Cavendish turned his head to the side to see Bartolomeo leaning back on his forearms and smiling deviously.

"What's wrong? Haven't you eaten yet and you're hungry of a copious meal...? Oi oi oi, _it was a joke_!"

Bartolomeo rolled out from the bed rapidly when a completely red Cavendish drew his sword with the clear intention of sticking it on the place where Bartolomeo's crotch had been just a second ago.

"You are disgusting", Cavendish snapped, embarrassed to no end because Bartolomeo's words had made his heart beat faster.

"Come on, you can't blame me for joking", Bartolomeo defended himself with a snicker, "what would have you done if you had woken up with me in that position?"

"Probably killing you", Cavendish answered immediately, kicking one of Bartolomeo's boots with force since it was the culprit of his falling.

"Tsk, your loss", Bartolomeo scratched the back of his head absentmindedly, "I've been said that I have a pretty awesome mouth as long as I am careful with my fangs, of course"

Cavendish blushed even more, his eyes opened wide in astonishment.

"Bartolomeo, do you realize what are we talking about right now?"

"Yeah, about how it would be if I sucked you off, what's with that?"

Cavendish rubbed his eyes in a desperate attempt to keep calm _and_ to push away the images that Bartolomeo's comment had made appear on his head.

"Seriously, how can't you have any shame in saying things like that?", Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo somewhat impressed against his will, causing the man to chuckle.

"I'm a pirate, remember?", he said proudly, "I can talk about everything without feeling embarrassed, and you should be able to do the same"

"Sorry, but unlike you I'm a pirate that has a minimum decency not to say things like that"

"Things like what, Cabbage?"

Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo when this one smirked challengingly, and even if at first his first impulse was to insult that shameless pirate again he thought it better, and after putting his best smile he placed his hands over his hips and talked.

"Things like in case of you giving me oral pleasure I would seriously punish you if your fangs dared to leave even a tiny scratch down there"

Cavendish ended the sentence pointing exaggeratedly with his eyes at his own crotch, making sure to bat his long eyelashes twice during the process, and when looking at Bartolomeo again he could feel a wave of satisfaction hitting him when seeing the way the green-haired pirate was staring at him, holding his breath and with all his body completely in tension.

"Shit", Bartolomeo cursed lowly, letting out a surprised laugh, "didn't know you could be so…"

Cavendish smirked.

"Bold?"

Bartolomeo smirked back.

"Was going to say hot but yeah, bold also applies"

Cavendish felt his heart jump in his chest when being called hot by Bartolomeo…

And wait. , what the hell had just happened?! If he was trying to put his feelings for that idiot aside why the hell had he just _flirted_ so obviously with him and had thoroughly enjoyed it?!

"S-So…umh…", Cavendish cleared his throat, now regretting having acted so out of character, "what about eating something before the mission? The inn's food doesn't seem the best of all but it's better than nothing"

Bartolomeo kept staring at Cavendish for a couple of seconds longer than necessary before shrugging.

"Yeah, unlike others I'm not very picky with the food"

"I'm not picky. I'm just used to enjoy meals of high quality and…"

"That's what being picky means, Old Cabbage

"I told you already not to call me old!"

After Bartolomeo put his boots and cape on again the two pirates left the room still interchanging verbal insults. However, they were forced to behave when entering the dining room of the inn since no one had to recognize them.

They took a rather quick meal that tasted quite horrible to Cavendish's standards and pretty acceptable to Bartolomeo's ones and finally left the inn.

They decided that circling the island would be better than go through the city, so they walked to the beach and once there Cavendish mounted Farul.

"You sure he can carry both of us?", Bartolomeo asked, looking at the animal with certain suspicion while the horse offered him a look that was way too condescending for an animal.

"Really sure", Cavendish caressed Farul's neck slowly, "the poor thing had to carry Luffy, Trafalgar and those two criminals whose names I don't even remember at the same time so he won't have any problem in…o- _oi_!"

Bartolomeo practically jumped in the horse behind him, with his eyes almost forming hearts.

"I-I-I'm riding the same horse that Luffy-senpai! This means that Luffy-senpai has been sat in this same place! Ohhh I'm so happy right now!"

Cavendish rolled his eyes exaggeratedly while Bartolomeo suffered his fangirling attack.

Definitely, there was something _really_ wrong in his head for having feelings for such an idiot.

* * *

An hour or so later they arrived at the port where the storehouse was. The place was rather big and the only way to access was through a little bridge.

Obviously, the fastest way to reach it without being seen was by swimming, but since Bartolomeo was a Devil Fruit user that wasn't an option. For that reason, in order to access Bartolomeo created a bridge-barrier just over the water and below the actual bridge.

It was a little risky because if the water touched the barrier this one would disappear, but Rebecca and Cavendish had calculated the ideal hour to guarantee that the water was calmed enough to carry out the plan without any problems.

That way, they managed to approach the storehouse without major problems. They knocked out a couple of mercenaries and after hiding them they introduced the password in the little panel that was outside. The door opened with a loud scratchy sound and when it finished opening Bartolomeo and Cavendish walked inside with confidence.

According to Rebecca's spy the previous day a lot of new members have been transferred there and consequently no one was going to be surprised to see some unknown people, although Bartolomeo and Cavendish kept being in alert to act in case someone stared at them too suspiciously.

"Hey", Cavendish whispered after a couple of minutes of walking in silence inside the storehouse, "the entrance of the basement is right there"

Theoretically, just authorized mercenaries could go there, so they had to find a way to enter when no one was looking, thing that was rather complicated because the news of their other robbery had spread and everyone was even more alert than usual.

"Becca told us that the alarms were in the second floor, right?"

"Yes, but we don't exactly know where"

Cavendish's eyes showed alert when seeing Bartolomeo cross his fingers. He was about to say Bartolomeo not to dare to use his power when suddenly one of the windows of the second floor broke, activating a noisy alarm.

"Intruders in the second floor!", someone shouted.

All the mercenaries ran upstairs, allowing Bartolomeo and Cavendish sneak in the basement door without being seen.

"What have you done?", Cavendish asked with confusion, "I thought that your power just allowed you to create barriers"

Bartolomeo smiled widely.

"Yeah, but…", Bartolomeo crossed his fingers again, "…I never said that the barriers that I can create have to be all big"

At that moment a small translucent cube appeared in front of Cavendish's eyes.

"So have you created this to break the window?", Cavendish grabbed the little cube between his fingers and examined it.

"Yep. I guessed that there was going to be security there since we entered through one of them yesterday"

Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo again, purposely adopting an over-impressed expression.

"I'm surprised that you were able to think in a decent plan"

Bartolomeo snorted, making the minuscule cube disappear from Cavendish's fingers.

"I'm not as dumb as you think", he said while beginning to walk towards the rather narrow corridor, followed by Cavendish.

"Well, I have to admit that it's been an advance compared with the previous day when you entered through the front doo…"

When Cavendish shut up Bartolomeo stopped and turned to look at him. He was about to ask what was wrong but Cavendish settled a finger over his own lips indicating Bartolomeo to remain quiet, and that's when Bartolomeo heard it too: steps that were approaching from behind.

As if they had had the same idea Cavendish and Bartolomeo began to run as noiselessly as they could through the long corridor. They made sure to avoid the dart trap that according to Rebecca's spy was just in the middle of corridor floor and kept running for several seconds while searching for a place to hide.

At the end, they stopped in front of a rather small supply closet.

"We both won't fit there", Cavendish said immediately.

They heard the steps get closer.

"Well, we'll have to"

Before Cavendish could protest Bartolomeo pushed him inside with a rude movement before entering as well, and Cavendish could feel his cheeks burning when the whole weight of Bartolomeo's body pinned him completely against the wall.

"You idiot, let me some space!", he exclaimed.

"I can't!", Bartolomeo replied, "I've made a barrier just behind me so that the door doesn't open and I can't move!"

Cavendish exhaled a deep breath trying to calm down but damn, feeling Bartolomeo's breathing so close, and his chest against his back, and…well, _another part_ of Bartolomeo's body that definitely Cavendish didn't want to mention against his…umh…lower back, were causing the blond pirate to feel extremely excit… _nervous_.

Meanwhile, Bartolomeo was imagining the most disagreeable things that he could think off in order to stop little Barto from waking up because of the compromising position that Cavendish and him were. Shit, maybe entering that closet hadn't been such a good idea.

At that moment Cavendish sifted his body in an attempt of putting himself more comfortable, and Bartolomeo had to bite his bottom lip not to groan when the action caused his crotch to rub slightly against Cavendish's ass. Damn it, if the situation was different he would definitely take the risk and casually grinded forward just to test Cavendish's reaction but probably that wasn't the best moment if they wanted to finish the mission without incidents.

"Damn it, idiot, don't move!", Bartolomeo hissed.

" _I'm not moving_!", Cavendish replied with irritation, gladly that Bartolomeo hadn't heard the almost imperceptible gasp that had escaped his mouth when _that part_ of Bartolomeo's body had rubbed lightly against him. Damn it, there was definitely something wrong with him. The Pirate Prince should feel outraged for being in that kind of situation with Bartolomeo, not to feel exci… _nervous_.

After another ten seconds of remaining in that awkward position the steps finally disappeared and Bartolomeo and Cavendish stomped out of the room breathing way harder than when they had entered.

"Great idea hiding there", Cavendish said sarcastically, readjusting his hood in a useless attempt to hide his flushed face.

"I haven't heard you making any other proposal", Bartolomeo snapped back, readjusting his knife inside his pants so that it was a little more in the middle.

"You haven't given me time! You have just pushed me inside and…"

Cavendish's eyes opened wide in astonishment while looking behind Bartolomeo.

"Oi, what's are you looking at?", Bartolomeo's mouth fell opened when staring at the door that was behind him, "umh…this is the room that we had to find?"

"Well, since it says 'Maintenance Room' I guess that yes, it is"

"So we have hidden in the closet for nothing"

"Yes, we have"

There was a brief moment of silence in which Cavendish and Bartolomeo interchanged a serious look, but almost immediately they couldn't help to laugh because of the ridiculous situation.

"Okay, when we tell Becca about the mission we won't mention this part", Bartolomeo commented while finally entering the room that, as Rebecca had said, was the real office.

"Yes, it will be better or she will think that you are a pervert"

"Hah?! And why the hell would she think that?", Bartolomeo exclaimed, offended.

"Well…", for once, Cavendish allowed himself to be the one in initiating the teasing, "maybe because you have forced me to enter that extremely narrow place without any motive?"

Bartolomeo snorted, crossing his arms.

"What, are you suggesting that I planned to do dirty stuff with you inside that place?"

Cavendish shrugged.

"I'm just saying that's what it looks seen from outside"

Bartolomeo hummed to himself before leaning towards Cavendish until their faces were extremely close.

"Well, we can always come back to the closet with a motive this time "

Cavendish's breath hitched when hearing Bartolomeo's obvious innuendo, but he managed to adopt a more or less acceptable imperturbable expression.

"No, thank you", he pushed Bartolomeo back with an exaggerated gesture before walking towards another suspicious painting that was hanging in the middle of the room, "this is not the moment for that"

"Oooh, so if the moment was different you would be interested?"

Cavendish was grateful to be giving his back to Bartolomeo so that he didn't see the blush that had adorned his face. Damn subconscious of his.

"Of course not, you idiot", he snapped with a slight nervous tone, retiring the painting to see that indeed there was (again) a hidden safe there. The mercenaries should really learn to change the places to hide his safes, "and now stop distracting me and let me open this"

Bartolomeo bit his tongue not to add anything to Cavendish's last comment.

In less than a minute Cavendish managed to open the safe, and the same way than the previous day he found an envelope inside.

"Is the codified information?", Cavendish handled the envelope to Bartolomeo, who opened it.

"Yep, it looks that way", he put the piece of paper in one of his pockets.

"Great", Cavendish closed the safe and immediately introduced the password again, since that was the way to prevent the alarm from sounding, "now let's get out of here"

After verifying that there was no one outside the corridor they abandoned the room.

"Okay, according to Rebecca…", Cavendish pointed at the opposite direction from where they had come, "we should better leave through the door of the opposite side to…"

Just when Bartolomeo closed the door behind them, a loud alarm began to sound in all the place, making Bartolomeo and Cavendish jump.

"Oh man, you have to be kidding me…", Bartolomeo said with exasperation, beginning to run at full speed through the corridor.

"Damn, Rebecca should fire that spy, why the hell didn't he warn about the alarm of the door?!", Cavendish exclaimed.

While they ran through the corridor, several mercenaries began to go out from the other doors. Cavendish and Bartolomeo tried to avoid them but at some point they were surrounded and didn't have any other option than fighting, and obviously the fact that Bartolomeo couldn't use his barrier and Cavendish his usual fighting style made everything more difficult than it should.

"Shit, they are more coming", Bartolomeo exhaled when they defeated the first wave of enemies.

"Okay, change of plans: we are leaving through the front door. Farul is there waiting for us"

Bartolomeo snorted while running behind Cavendish.

"Now who's the one who's doing something reckle…? Oi, _watch out_!"

Despite Bartolomeo's warning, Cavendish stepped accidentally in the trap that they had successfully avoided the first time. Cavendish cursed and rapidly managed to draw his sword just when the first darts were beginning to appear through the opposite wall. He knew that there was no way that he deflected all of them but he could deflect most part of them and…

…and it wasn't necessary because at that moment a barrier formed around him, protecting him from all the darts that began to fly towards him.

"You idiot!", Cavendish exclaimed, glaring at Bartolomeo while the rain of darts continued, "you have just revealed your identity! What the hell are you…?"

At that moment a shot was heard.

And Cavendish's heart stopped when Bartolomeo fell forward.

"Bartolomeo!"

The barrier around Cavendish disappeared but the pirate was ready to jump out the trap. The blond pirate approached rapidly the mercenary who had shot Bartolomeo from behind and after knocking him out with way more force than necessary he approached the fallen pirate.

"Bartolomeo", Cavendish gulped while approaching the green-haired pirate, his throat getting tighter and tighter, and just when Bartolomeo let out a pained grunt Cavendish was able to breathe again.

Bartolomeo was alive. That stupid idiot was alive.

"Hey, are you alright?", Cavendish approached Bartolomeo and froze when realizing that the pirate was bleeding from one of his temples.

"Yeah, but wow, that's been close", Bartolomeo barked a laugh and placed a hand over his injury, "it's been a luck that the bastard was a shitty shooter or I would have a rather pretty hole in the back of my hea…wow, Cabbage, are you alright? You are shaking a little and you are like paler than usual…"

"Let's get out of here"

Cavendish walked through Bartolomeo with such vehemence that his shoulder bumped with the astonished pirate, who just could follow Cavendish while feeling extremely confused for the blonde's sudden harsh attitude.

* * *

During their way out they were forced to fight again, but since Bartolomeo's identity had been discovered the pirate created a wall on the bridge that allowed them to leave the storehouse rather easily.

As Cavendish had said, Farul was waiting them on the other side so they rode the animal all the way back to the inn.

The travel was extremely awkward, since all Bartolomeo's attempts of initiating a conversation were cut by Cavendish with monosyllabic answers, so at the end Bartolomeo decided to remain quiet.

He honestly didn't know what was wrong with Cavendish. Okay, he knew that the pirate was mad at him but he didn't know exactly why, maybe because he had used a barrier? But damn, he had done it to protect him so he should be grateful instead of angry!

When they finally reached the inn Cavendish indicated (or better said, ordered) Bartolomeo to call Rebecca while he asked the innkeeper for a place to leave Farul. In any other moment Bartolomeo would have protested for being ordered like that but this time he decided to obey Cavendish.

Bartolomeo called Rebecca and told her that the mission had been a success but that his identity had been discovered. The girl didn't seem particularly upset by that and told him that she would be in the inn the fastest she could talk more calmly.

Just when Bartolomeo hanged up, Cavendish entered the room.

"Have you called Rebecca?", he asked simply, and Bartolomeo realized that despite his calm tone Cavendish's eyes kept showing anger. Shit, what the hell had he done?!

"Yeah, she is on her way"

Cavendish nodded, and just when Bartolomeo was going to try a new attempt of conversation Cavendish surprised him by grabbing him from the arm and dragging him towards the bathroom.

"What the…?", Bartolomeo began to say with confusion when Cavendish forced his body against the sink, but before being able to complete his question Cavendish settled his thumb and index on the side of Bartolomeo's temple, half-circling the little injury that was there to examine it.

"What are you doing?", Bartolomeo asked with hesitation, causing Cavendish to click his tongue.

"If you can't even deduce what I'm doing you're even dumber than I thought"

Cavendish's sarcastic answer made Bartolomeo roll his eyes. Okay, definitely he didn't understand what the hell was wrong with that pompous pirate: first he ignored him and now he was trying to cure him?

"Look, I'm seeing what you are doing but _seriously_?", Bartolomeo couldn't help to snort, "dude, I'm fine, it isn't even bleeding anymore"

Cavendish ignored Bartolomeo and opened the nearest drawer, causing the green-haired pirate to sigh exaggeratedly.

"There is a bottle of alcohol in the other drawer".

Cavendish huffed when hearing Bartolomeo's suggestion and grabbed some gauzes and a little bottle of antiseptic instead.

"You should never use alcohol in a opened wound, you idiot"

Cavendish applied some liquid on the gauze before facing Bartolomeo again.

"Here. Press it"

Bartolomeo exhaled a pained whine when Cavendish snapped the gauze against his temple with way more force than he was expecting.

"Damn, you are a horrible nurse"

Cavendish ignored him and searched in the drawers until finding a medical tape.

Bartolomeo sighed again while keeping the gauze against that ridiculous scratch that according to him didn't even deserve to be called an injury. Well, it seemed that at least Cavendish wasn't ignoring him as much as before so maybe he could try to enliven the mood with a little of teasing.

"Okay, you know what? I've thought about it better. Let's call a doctor immediately", Bartolomeo said with a mocking smile, "after all I'm almost dying here so…"

…so it seemed that saying that hadn't been the best idea ever because at that moment Cavendish turned around and Bartolomeo's smile disappeared when seeing the angry glare that the blonde pirate threw at him.

"No, Barto", Cavendish spoke with a quiet calmed tone while approaching Bartolomeo again, "you aren't dying, but you know what?"

Bartolomeo huffed when Cavendish dug a finger on his exposed chest accusatorily.

"Before you could have DIED", Cavendish snapped, his calm tone turning almost hysterical and his blue eyes shining with fury and another feeling that caused Bartolomeo to gulp, "It's been a miracle that that bullet just grazed you because it was aiming at your damn empty head! Why the hell did you use your stupid barrier to cover me instead of paying attention to your surroundings?! I didn't need _your_ help. I can take care of myself perfectly so don't you dare to be about to die for me ever again!"

Cavendish exhaled a deep sigh after finishing talking and cut a couple of pieces of medical tape with frustration to fix the gauze on Bartolomeo's temple.

Bartolomeo stared at Cavendish in disbelief, slowly assimilating the blonde pirate's words, and when the true meaning of Cavendish's speech hit him, Bartolomeo felt his heart skip a beat in his chest.

Now he understood why Cavendish had been acting so weird before. And that wasn't everything:

What Cavendish had just said…that was it. That was the signal that he had been expecting. And like hell if he was going to let it pass.

"Oi, Cavendish…"

Cavendish was about to insult Bartolomeo again and tell him that he better remain silent while he finished cured him when realizing that Bartolomeo had called him by his name. That fact caused him to look at Bartolomeo with his eyes wide open in astonishment, and when seeing the way the green-haired idiot was smirking Cavendish felt his throat go dry.

Damn it.

Damn it, could it be that he had spoken too much and Bartolomeo had guessed that…?

"You were scared shitless back then because of me, weren't you? Didn't know you cared that much about me"

Cavendish blushed furiously when hearing Bartolomeo's teasing tone. He gritted his teeth, completely embarrassed for being mocked that way, and raised a hand with the clear intention of hitting that smirking idiot.

"You bastard, I dare you to repeat that aga…"

Cavendish didn't manage to end his threat.

Because with an incredibly fast movement Bartolomeo caught Cavendish's wrist in time to prevent the pirate's hit and taking opportunity of his impulse he dragged Cavendish towards him until their faces were just inches apart and their noses were lightly touching.

And then Cavendish's heart stopped for a moment when finally registering that Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal' was kissing him.

* * *

 **Well, Cavendish didn't see that coming hehehe. How will he react…? We'll see it in the next chapter :D**

 **Comments will be very welcomed~!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Cavendish and Bartolomeo share an intimate moment in the bathroom but things don't end as well as they had begun.**

* * *

During the first seconds Cavendish didn't react. He just kept still with his eyes wide opened and a shocked expression stuck on his face while assimilating that he was being kissed by none other than Bartolomeo the Cannibal, and to his surprise it wasn't the kind of kiss that he had expected to receive from such a rude the pirate.

Instead of harsh or rough, the kiss Cavendish was experiencing right then was tender, so light that it could be considered a mere brush of lips, but curiously it had the same effect on him than all those passionate kisses that he had shared in the past, or even a more intense effect because Cavendish didn't remember that his heart beat so fast and that his stomach tightened in such a way just because a simple kiss.

Cavendish felt beads of sweat traveling down his back. He didn't know if it had been Bartolomeo's intention but somehow it seemed as if the green-haired pirate was waiting for his reaction, as if he was giving him the option to keep playing the game or put an end to it. And Cavendish knew what he had to do, at least if he wanted not to complicate things more than they were, if he wanted not to get involved too deeply with that idiot.

But apparently, what he had to do didn't match with what he _wanted_ to do. And apparently it seemed that the emotions of the day had obscured his common sense because Cavendish couldn't find any other reason to explain what it happened next, that was to close his eyes slowly and press his lips back against Bartolomeo's ones, joining him in the kiss.

Bartolomeo had to suppress a relieved sigh when Cavendish responded. He had acted impulsively and a part of him had been afraid that Cavendish pushed him away, but it seemed that his intuition had been correct and that insufferable pirate liked him more than he would ever admit, and he planned to take advantage of it.

Consequently, Bartolomeo didn't hesitate to dive forward to kiss Cavendish again without giving him time to regret his decision. Bartolomeo had to suppress a smirk when Cavendish's breathing hitched with surprise, as if he had been in part expecting that everything ended with just that kiss. Too bad, Cavendish. There was no way that he was going to leave it just like that, so after releasing the blonde pirate's wrist Bartolomeo enclosed his arms around Cavendish's slender waist while making sure not to stop moving his lips against Cavendish's ones, still with calm.

Bartolomeo was happy when Cavendish's response was to enclose his arms around his neck while kissing back, his initial hesitation completely vanished. And _godammit_ , that pompous bastard surely knew how to press the correct buttons to make his blood hotter, because the way Cavendish was teasingly tugging at his bottom lip between his perfect white teeth after every brief kiss, nipping it as if he was challenging Bartolomeo to do something else, was making the green-haired pirate more and more aroused.

Cavendish didn't bother to suppress a triumphant smile when Bartolomeo let out a low grunt after he used his tongue to slowly lick the green-pirate's bottom lip. He knew that Bartolomeo was going to react to that kind of playfulness. After all, Bartolomeo seemed like the kind of guy who directly jumped to the main action and probably he wasn't used to have a little of foreplay, so he was disposed to teach him a lesson in that matter.

Or well, that would have been his next step if at that moment Bartolomeo hadn't kissed him again with almost fury, making Cavendish unable to do anything but surrender to those lips that felt unexpectedly better than any other that he had previously tasted. But damn, it wasn't enough. Those still superficial kisses weren't enough to the desire that had begun to coil in the pit of his stomach, and for the way Bartolomeo's hands were grabbing his waist with impatience Cavendish deduced that it was time already to speed up things a little.

After a couple of failed attempts they managed to find the right angle to kiss properly. Bartolomeo's teeth made impossible for Cavendish to capture Bartolomeo's mouth the way he was used to do when kissing someone, since the pirate's fangs would surely hurt him, but as long as Cavendish controlled his impulse to tilt his head to try to deepen the kiss it would be fine. Damn, more than _fine_ , because the way Bartolomeo's tongue was now rolling together with his, around his, against his, was making Cavendish's stomach tighten with excitation. Definitely the bastard hadn't lied when saying that he had a pretty awesome mouth. Cavendish was dying to feel it in other parts of his body and if things kept escalating maybe his wish would be fulfilled.

Encouraged by that last thought Cavendish tangled his fingers in Bartolomeo's green strands while intensifying even more the kiss, which was becoming more passionate with every second that passed. Bartolomeo's hair was way softer than Cavendish expected it would be, and Cavendish found himself caressing it through his fingers. However, at some point Bartolomeo's tongue hit a particular sensitive place inside Cavendish's mouth, and the blonde pirate couldn't help to let out a soft whine while unconsciously pulling Bartolomeo's hair.

The unexpected yank caused Bartolomeo to stop the kiss suddenly while exhaling a surprised groan. Cavendish was about to apologize, thinking that maybe he had hurt the green-haired pirate, but when seeing the way Bartolomeo's breathing had become just a little heavier the concern of Cavendish's eyes was replaced by understanding.

So Bartolomeo liked to be treated a little roughly. Well, Cavendish definitely could work with that, so without giving Bartolomeo time to recover his breathing Cavendish kissed the pirate demandingly, slipping his tongue inside the green-haired pirate's mouth again while making sure to grab Bartolomeo's hair with more force this time.

Cavendish knew that he had guessed right Bartolomeo's kink when the green-haired pirate grunted even loudly while kissing back with fervor. However, Cavendish didn't have time to praise himself for his deduction because at that moment Bartolomeo switched their positions, causing Cavendish to end with his lower back against the sink. The rude impact made Cavendish let out a soft whine of protest that turned into one of pleasure when Bartolomeo began to grind their hips in a rather violent pace.

 _Oh_ , Cavendish thought with surprise, grabbing the border of the sink with one of his hands while the other kept grabbing the back of Bartolomeo's hair with force. Oh god. It felt good. Way too good. And even if he knew that he should feel embarrassed because the Pirate Prince definitely shouldn't be enjoying that animal, primal act he couldn't help it. His hips were unconsciously rutting against Bartolomeo as well, searching more of that friction, and he found himself internally praying that Bartolomeo dared to be even bolder and suddenly decided that they were wearing too much clothes because Cavendish wanted to feel that idiot's skin. He wanted to feel those unfair muscles against his body. He wanted more. Much more.

Bartolomeo let out a low curse while staring at Cavendish, whose eyes were now shut closed and his mouth half-opened and inches apart from Bartolomeo's own parted lips, letting out soft moans with every thrust of Bartolomeo's hips. With another grunt Bartolomeo kissed Cavendish again, sealing partially his moans while keeping grinding against the pirate, who was also moving back against him with way more enthusiasm than Bartolomeo had expected. Shit, the friction between their crotches felt incredible, and that idiot's lips tasted better than the best damn food that he had managed to have in his mouth, and those fucking cute noises that Cavendish kept letting out were driving him absolutely crazy. Damn it, he wanted to do more, to hear more, he wanted…

 _Purupurupuru…Purupurupuru…_

Bartolomeo and Cavendish jumped startled, stopping completely their actions when that sound invaded the room.

"Is that your phone?", Bartolomeo asked after a few seconds, his voice sounding a little raspy because of the intense make out session that he had just shared with Cavendish.

"I-I think it is", Cavendish cleared his throat and after fumbling with his pocket he managed to grab the little den den mushi in time to answer, "Y-yes?...Oh, it's you Suleiman… Yes, everything has gone right…"

During Cavendish's conversation Bartolomeo realized that he was still surrounding Cavendish's waist. He was about to release the pirate but just at that moment Cavendish hanged up, so at the end he remained in that position.

"S-Sorry, my men wanted to verify that I was okay", Cavendish said a little nervously, returning the den den mushi to his pocket.

"Cool", Bartolomeo answered simply, just to say something.

A tense silence fell in the bathroom, and when seeing that Cavendish was busy looking at everywhere but him Bartolomeo decided to be the one in breaking the ice again.

"Weeell, call me dumb but I think that we were just in the middle of something just before that Suleiman called you…"

When hearing Bartolomeo overly casual tone Cavendish couldn't help to exhale a short chuckle. He dared to look at Bartolomeo again and when seeing the way the pirate was smiling teasingly at him Cavendish felt guiltiness invading him, because now that they had calmed down and he had come back to his senses he was beginning to regret what had just happened.

Even if it had felt good. Incredibly good. And damn, that just made everything worse.

"Umh… Cavendish, are you okay?", Bartolomeo asked, confused for the mortified expression that Cavendish was suddenly showing.

Cavendish gulped.

Damn, doing what he was going to do was way more difficult now.

"Look, Bartolomeo…", Cavendish forced himself to look at the other pirate in the eyes when talking next. He had decided to tell Bartolomeo the truth. After everything it had happened he owed him at least that much, "…I'm not going to deny that I feel attracted to you. After these two days of working together and…and well, after what was about to happen a month ago…"

"Wait, what was about to happen a month ago?"

Cavendish half-closed his eyes because he perfectly knew that Bartolomeo was feigning obliviousness.

"You want me to say it, right?"

Bartolomeo smirked.

"Yep, I want you to"

Cavendish exhaled a deep sigh full of patience before speaking again, making sure to fix his blue eyes on Bartolomeo intensely while putting special emphasis in certain words that he knew were going to make that smirking idiot react.

"Well, if my memory isn't failing me it was a month ago when I got pretty drunk and ended _straddling_ your lap, about to get completely and absolutely _naked_ in front of you, and practically _begging_ you to have _sex_ with me and…"

"Okay stop or I'm going to get a boner"

Cavendish found himself laughing, not expecting that bold but sincere comment.

"It's you the one who has asked for details"

Bartolomeo lost the battle against the smile that ended forming on his face after hearing Cavendish's too innocent reply.

"Fair enough", he ended admitting, "sorry for the interruption, you were saying something about feeling _irremediably_ attracted to me"

Cavendish rolled his eyes with a tiny smile before speaking with a more serious tone, mimicking Bartolomeo's stance by settling his hands on the green-haired pirate's hips.

"Yes, I do. I told you already that in order to sleep with someone I need to like that person first, and the same goes to make out with someone. But…", Cavendish stopped to put in order his thoughts before continuing speaking, "…but even if it would be pointless to deny the obvious chemistry that god-knows-how exists between you and me, I don't think that _this_ …", Cavendish signaled Bartolomeo and him alternatively with his hand, "…can ever work"

Bartolomeo frowned with confusion.

"Why not? You have admitted right now that you feel attracted to me and I feel attracted to you too, so I don't see any problem here"

Cavendish exhaled a nervous chuckle.

"It's not that simple. We have a reputation to keep"

Bartolomeo raised an eyebrow

"Cavendish, we are pirates. The words 'pirates' and 'reputation' don't go very well together unless you add 'bad' in the middle"

"Hey, speak for yourself!", Cavendish crossed his arms, slightly offended, "maybe you don't mind to have bad reputation but I plan to become the most handsome and popular pirate of the world and for that to be possible my reputation has to be the best of all!"

"Okay, okay, I get it, but still I don't see what reputation, bad or not, has to do with us liking each other"

Cavendish sighed with certain impatience.

"It has _everything_ to do with it. I mean, in your case, what do you think that people would think if they knew that the fearsome Bartolomeo the Cannibal is somehow _dating_ the Pirate Prince? Don't you think that you would stop being feared? That you would begin to be mocked instead?"

Bartolomeo blinked a couple of times before answering.

"Cavendish, you are talking to the man who pissed in front of the whole crowd of the Corrida Colisseum. Do you think that I give a damn about what people could think about me?"

"Thank you, Bartolomeo, I had totally forgotten that precious image so I appreciate that you have made me remember it"

"Oh, so that wasn't one of the causes for which you began to be interested in me?"

" _Absolutely not_!"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh when hearing Cavendish's fast reply. There was a short pause that the green-haired pirate ended breaking, making sure to adopt the most casual tone ever.

"And what about you, Cavendish? Do you mind what people may think?"

Cavendish's brief moment of hesitation was all the answer that Bartolomeo needed. And he deduced that despite his attempts of showing a relaxed attitude Cavendish had detected the tension on him because when he spoke there was guiltiness in his voice.

"Look, it's not that I'm ashamed of you or anything but as I was saying before my dream is to become the…"

"…most handsome and popular pirate of the world, and obviously being with me would ruin your image"

Cavendish gulped when hearing Bartolomeo's sarcastic but spot on answer. Certainly, being with Bartolomeo would interfere with his dream of becoming the most perfect pirate in the world. He would probably lose all his fans if they discovered that he was with a pirate that was the complete opposite to him, and after how much it had taken him to obtain so much popularity Cavendish didn't want to ruin it. Although now that he knew how Bartolomeo felt about him, a part of him really regretted to have to take such a decision.

After a rather heavy silence Bartolomeo stopped enclosing his arms around Cavendish's waist, making the last one thank but at the same time regret the lack of contact.

"Okay, then what do you want to do, Cabbage?", Bartolomeo crossed his arms, "to pretend _again_ that nothing has happened?"

The emphasis that Bartolomelo applied to the word 'again' didn't go unnoticed by Cavendish, and the fact that Bartolomeo had decided to call him by that damn nickname again instead of using his name bothered Cavendish more than ever.

"No, Barto", Cavendish said, trying to use a calm tone but failing because his annoyance was palpable, "what I want is not to give all the pirates of the Grand Line a reason to stop taking us seriously, so I think it would be prudent that in case of wanting to be…umh…somewhat together we should hide it from the res…"

"No", Bartolomeo's cutting answer made Cavendish shut up immediately, "sorry, Cabbage, but hiding that we are 'somewhat together' just because of what people may think is bullshit, and I'm not going to play the forbidden love story just for your stupid dream"

Bartolomeo regretted having said that last sentence because he managed to catch a glimpse of the hurt expression that had adorned Cavendish's face before recovering his annoyed one. However, before having time to rectify his words Cavendish spoke, making Bartolomeo forget his initial intention of apologizing.

"Well, you can call my dream stupid but at least I have a dream instead of being content with imitating _and_ drooling for other pirates like you do. And you can boast all you want about not minding what other people may think but if that was true, you wouldn't mind so much when people insult your ridiculous teeth"

This time, Cavendish knew that he had gone a little too far when Bartolomeo tensed and his eyes showed again the same disappointment that they had shown a month ago. He knew that the correct thing would be to apologize. But he was way too stubborn and he didn't.

"You know what, I've thought it better", Bartolomeo snapped, pointing at Cavendish with a finger, "I definitely don't want to be paired with a narcissist jerk fake pirate with split personality that only cares about getting the admiration of the rest"

Cavendish clicked his tongue and showed his best condescending expression.

"Perfect then, because I don't want to be paired with a brute, Straw-Hat obsessive fangirl bastard with a giant lack of manners either"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Great", he leant forward Cavendish until their faces were dangerously close, "we are on the same page then, Cabbage"

Cavendish mimicked Bartolomeo's action, causing their noses brush lightly. It was funny, some moments ago that same action had finished with both of them making out wildly but now they just wanted to be on the other one's throat.

"Yes, we are on the same page, Barto"

At that moment there was a couple of soft knocks at the door and Rebecca's hesitant voice was heard from the outside.

"Bartolomeo? Cavendish? Umh…are you two okay? From here it sounds as if you were fighting…"

Both pirates kept glaring at each other, internally expecting that the other one retracted his words. But when some seconds passed and neither of them gave up on his stubborn attitude they pushed away at the same time while pretending not to be disappointed for the result of the conversation.

Another knock sounded at the door but the second one was interrupted when Bartolomeo approached the door fast and opened it, making Rebecca exhale a little cry of surprise.

"B-Bartolomeo?", Rebecca's eyes opened wide when the pirate left the room after offering her just a brief look, "where are you going?"

"To have a drink", Bartolomeo answered without stopping, "I have to remove this shitty taste from my mouth"

Cavendish felt his blood boiling from anger when hearing that answer, and without ever thinking he approached the door as well just when Bartolomeo was about to climb down the stairs towards the main floor.

"Brushing your teeth has the same effect, you know? Although I suppose that someone like you isn't used to use a toothbrush too often"

Bartolomeo's only answer was to show Cavendish his middle finger before digging his hands in his pockets and disappearing towards the first floor.

"Idiot", Cavendish said trough gritted teeth, realizing too late the way Rebecca was looking at him with concern.

"Is everything okay?", Rebecca asked with a tiny voice.

"Y-yes, don't worry about it. We have just had certain differences, that's all"

"Are you sure?", Rebecca inquired while finally entering the room, "because you really seemed angry with each other"

Cavendish made a dismissive gesture with his hand while forcing a smile.

"That's nothing new. We are always quarrelling after all"

Rebecca half-closed her eyes while placing her hands on her hips.

"Cavendish, what I've seen right now wasn't a quarrel, it was a fight. You two really looked as if you _hated_ each other"

Cavendish was about to keep insisting that there was nothing wrong but when seeing the way Rebecca's eyes were piercing him he found himself letting out a defeated sigh.

"You sure are quite a stubborn princess"

Cavendish's impressed comment made Rebecca chuckle.

" _Ex_ -princess, I remind you that I forfeited the tittle", Rebecca's tone became serious again, "so what happened? You don't have to tell me all the details but if the fight has been due to the mission then…"

"No, it had nothing to do with it", Cavendish regretted in part having been that sincere because his answer just caused Rebecca to look at him with even more curiosity, "umh…the thing is…we have fought because…"

Rebecca settled a hand over Cavendish's arm, making him stop his babbling.

"May I guess the motive of your fight?", Rebecca smiled softly, "maybe it has been a lovers fight?"

Cavendish's mouth fell funnily opened.

"W-WHAT?!", he practically squeaked bright red, "W-Why have you thought that? Of course it hasn't been a lovers fight! I don't want to have anything to do with that idiot anymore"

"Anymore?", Rebecca said immediately, "then that means that you wanted to have anything to do with him before, right?"

Cavendish realized too late that he had talked too much. He let out a long sigh and leant against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Since you aren't a princess anymore maybe you should think about working as an interrogator"

Rebecca chuckled again.

"So I was correct. There is something between you two"

"No, there isn't", Cavendish interrupted her, averting his eyes, "there was about to be but we have realized in time that it would be a mistake. And it's better this way. That idiot just means trouble and being with him would just ruin my image"

Rebecca nodded to herself with understanding, accurately deducing what had happened between those two stubborn men without needing to ask.

"It's a pity", Rebecca said with a sigh, "I think you two would make a really interesting couple"

Cavendish didn't answer. He just didn't want to waste his time thinking about Bartolomeo. He was still angry with him for having looked down on his lifelong dream like that. And, although Cavendish would die before admitting it, he also felt guilty for the words he had said to the pirate too.

"So...", Rebecca twisted her hands a little nervously, "if you have fought does this mean that you aren't going to do the last mission? I'm not asking you to pressure you. It's just to know if I need to look for someone else to do it"

Cavendish didn't hesitate in giving an answer. After all he had promised Rebecca that he would help her, and he wouldn't be the gentleman that he was always trying to be if he broke that promise.

"It won't be necessary", Cavendish extracted a rose from somewhere inside his clothes and made a reverence towards Rebecca, "I, Cavendish 'of the White Horse', will keep my promise and will perform the mission successfully"

Rebecca smiled with gratitude before asking with a cautious tone.

"And in case Bartolomeo agreed, would you mind to work together with him?"

Cavendish gulped. Obviously he preferred to do the mission alone, but he had to admit that that idiot's ability was useful in certain occasions. Besides, by rejecting Bartolomeo's help it would look as if he was giving importance to what had just happened in the bathroom and Cavendish didn't want to give such an impression. Because it had meant nothing. Or better said, it didn't mean it anymore.

"No, of course I wouldn't mind", Cavendish said, making sure that his tone sounded convinced and firm.

"Great", Rebecca said with a smile, "then I'm going to call Bartolomeo right now so that he comes here and we can talk about the next mission", Rebecca noticed Cavendish's frozen smile, "umh…is it okay with you?"

"Y-Yes, of course, as I've said I don't mind what that idiot does"

Rebecca nodded and took her den den mushi while Cavendish pretended not to be nervous at all for the call that the girl was going to do at that moment.

* * *

Bartolomeo had just ordered a drink that would probably be the first of many when his den den mushi began to sound. He was tempted to ignore it and follow his initial plan of spending the night drinking but at the end he exhaled a sigh an answered, although making sure to adopt an annoyed tone.

"Yeah?"

" _Bartolomeo? It's me, Rebecca. Can I talk to you for a moment?_ "

Bartolomeo hesitated once again to say that no, that he was extremely busy, but he decided that acting like a jerk with that girl just because he was really angry with that pompous bastard would be mean even for someone like him.

"Yeah, what is it?", he said while beginning to take a sip of his drink.

" _It's about the last mission_ ", Rebecca explained, " _I was wondering if you are still willing to do it. Together with Cavendish_ "

Bartolomeo spat the liquid that he had just swallowed because of the surprise.

"Wait, what?", he asked between coughs.

" _Well, he has said that he still wants to do the mission and that he would like to work together with you again_ "

 _"H-Hey, I haven't said that!"_

Bartolomeo tensed when hearing Cavendish's offended voice. Damn, he was in that pub trying to forget what had just happened with that idiot so why the hell was he hearing him again?

"Sorry, but I can't do that", Bartolomeo said with a casual voice, knowing that Cavendish was going to hear him, "I don't want to ruin that geezer's image by working with him"

" _Geezer?! Who the hell are calling geezer, you drunkard?!_ "

"Drunkard?! Because of you two I've barely been able to begin my first drink so…"

" _Guys, please_!", Rebecca's voice sounded in the other side of the line, " _look, if you really don't want to work together it's okay, I've already said that I would find someone else, but in case you want to help you need to be able communicate without trying to kill each other!_ "

Bartolomeo heard Cavendish let out a long sigh at the same time than him.

 _"So…",_ the girl continued _, "Bartolomeo, would you think that you can come back to the inn to talk about this? I will explain the plan that I've thought and if after hearing it you both think that there is no way that you coordinate together then your job is completed. I will pay you for the letter that you have found today and that's all, okay?"_

Bartolomeo thought about his options. A part of him wanted to do the job. He liked Rebecca and he wanted to help her, but he didn't like the part of having to work with Cavendish again. It was true that Bartolomeo regretted having insulted Cavendish's dream, but he couldn't help to feel annoyed after knowing how much Cavendish cared about his image. If his image was that important why the hell hadn't Cavendish stopped him when he had kissed him? And the fact that not just him but that also Cavendish had clearly enjoyed the whole make out thing just made Bartolomeo angrier. Damn it, if that idiot had liked it as much as him there was nothing to discuss so why the hell that bastard had to complicate everything?

" _Bartolomeo?_ "

The green-haired pirate almost jumped in his seat when hearing Rebecca's voice, and realized that he had been silent for almost half-a-minute.

Bartolomeo insulted himself internally. Shit, what the hell was he doing? He was Bartolomeo 'of the Cannibal', the captain of the Barto Club, and if he rejected such a profitable mission just because of that Pirate Prince he wouldn't be able to face his men. Besides, he just had to focus on doing the mission without paying attention to any unnecessary things, like that idiot whose lips tasted so fucking good and whose taste kept lingering in his mouth despite the strong drink that he was just having.

"Okay, I'm on my way"

" _Great. We'll be waiting for you_ "

When Rebecca hanged up Bartolomeo let out a long sigh and finished his drink before standing up to leave the pub, trying to ignore the rapid way his heart was beating for having to see that idiot again.

* * *

Cavendish's heart stopped for a moment when a couple of rude knocks sounded and Rebecca walked promptly towards the door. _Okay_ , Cavendish thought with a gulp, _just focus on the conversation and this won't be so awkward_.

"Hi, Bartolomeo. Thanks for coming back"

Cavendish felt all his body tense when Bartolomeo entered the room lazily, and when their eyes met it was just for a brief moment because both pirates averted their gaze as if the eye contact burned.

Damn it.

This was _really awkward_.

"So…", Rebecca said, clearly ignoring the overwhelming tension that was taking place between the two pirates, "…as I've said, let me tell you about tomorrow's hideout"

During the next half-an-hour Rebecca didn't stop talking, thing that both pirates thanked because that way they didn't have to pay attention to each other, and in fact when the girl finished talking both pirates regretted it.

"And that's all", Rebecca looked at the pirates expectantly, "what do you think about the plan?"

There was a brief silence until Bartolomeo spoke.

"So long story short I will act as a bait while _he_ …", Bartolomeo pointed at Cavendish with his chin without bothering to call his name, making Cavendish feel incredibly annoyed, "…sneaks inside to steal the information, right?"

"Yes, since the mercenaries already know your identity but they don't know who Cavendish is I think it's the best way, but if you think that there's a better way to do it we can always change the plan"

"It's fine for me", Cavendish interrupted with a smile, and when seeing that Bartolomeo shook his head affirmatively as well Rebecca nodded satisfied.

"Okay, then…", Rebecca looked at Bartolomeo and Cavendish alternatively, "…do you think that you can work together?"

The tension came back at full force. Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish, who looked back at Bartolomeo, and after several long seconds they both looked at Rebecca again and nodded.

"Yes, since I'm going to be separated from _him_ most part of the time it won't be any problem", Cavendish said, purposely avoiding to call Bartolomeo by his name to successfully irritate him.

"Okay", Rebecca made a little inclination towards the pirates, "again, thank you so much for all your help. This time I've been unable to bring the reward but tomorrow in the morning I'll bring you the money"

"It won't be necessary. You can pay us after this last job", Cavendish offered, making the girl smile.

"Very well then. And…", Rebecca showed a slight guilty smile, "…again I'm sorry to tell you that I think that there isn't any other room available at this moment in the inn, so if you don't want to sleep together…I mean, in the same bed, the only thing that I can offer you is that one of you go with me. I have an extra bed in my room so one of you could sleep there"

Bartolomeo threw a side glance towards Cavendish and a wave of annoyance hit him whe seeing that the pirate was seriously considering it.

"You don't need to be afraid, Cabbage, like hell if I'm going to kiss you again"

Cavendish's cheek passed from pale to deep red in a split second when hearing Bartolomeo's comment while Rebecca couldn't help to let out a surprised gasp even if she was covering her mouth with her hands.

"B-Bastard, what the hell are you saying?!", Cavendish babbled.

"The pure truth. But just so you know I don't plan to sleep on the floor"

Cavendish clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, managing to adopt a really acceptable superior tone to compensate his previous hysterical reaction.

"Well, I don't plan to sleep on the floor either, so you better not try to do anything funny or Hakuba will be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you"

Bartolomeo snorted before walking towards the bathroom.

"See you tomorrow, Becca. Thank me that you don't need to sleep with this half-monster"

"No, Rebecca, thank me because you don't have to sleep with a pig that doesn't know the word 'shower'"

"I'm going to take one right now, you bigmouth"

"Well, after three days it was time already"

"Guys…", the two pirates stopped immediately when hearing the plea on the girl's voice, "…please, can I make you a last petition? Try to fix everything between you two. I've always found funny the way you teased each other but this…", the girl closed her eyes and shook her head, "…this is not funny anymore"

Bartolomeo and Cavendish stared in disbelief how the girl left the room with a tiny 'good night'.

"You idiot, you've made her sad!", Cavendish exclaimed looking at Bartolomeo.

"Me?! You've not been any better either", Bartolomeo snapped.

Both pirates huffed at the same time, feeling guilty for having made Rebecca put that kind of expression.

"Tsk, I can't wait to finish this damn mission"

Bartolomeo was about to agree but then he saw Cavendish taking his riding hood and couldn't help to hide his curiosity.

"You leaving?"

"I'm going for a walk and to find a place whose food is edible", Cavendish answered before pointing at Bartolomeo with an accusing finger, "and when I come back you better not be asleep in the middle of the bed because I will kick you out"

Bartolomeo snorted and leant against the jamb of the bathroom's door.

"Well, since you're always boasting about how popular you are I'm sure you won't have any problems in convincing a lady to let you share her bed"

"Wow, for once you have managed to come up with a good idea", Cavendish said with a purposely impressed tone, "maybe I do that. I have a couple of acquaintances around here whose company would be infinitely more agreeable, since they won't mock me for wanting to be an honorable pirate"

Bartolomeo knew that Cavendish just had given him the opportunity to retract from his previous words, but when thinking that Cavendish could be really considering to go to get laid with one of his stupid fans he got incredibly pissed off.

"Just remember not to begin to rut against the chick as if your life depends on it or you'll scare her"

Cavendish gritted his teeth while half-closing his eyes at Bartolomeo. He opened his mouth, probably to say something insulting, but at the end he just clicked his tongue and turned around without even saying goodbye.

He left the inn but instead of doing as he had said he went to see Farul, who was happily eating in the little stable next to the inn. The horse raised his head the moment he heard Cavendish enter and was about to greet him with a neigh when seeing Cavendish's strained expression.

Farul inclined his head to the side and frowned, silently asking Cavendish what was wrong, and when seeing the animal's concern Cavendish just let out a soft chuckle before beginning to pat the horse's neck.

"You owner is an idiot, Farul", he said with a sigh, hugging the confused horse, "a complete idiot"

* * *

Bartolomeo was just finishing showering. He was leaning both of his hands against the wall with his arms extended, his head falling between them and his eyes closed while the cold water drenched his naked body.

After a few seconds of being lost in his thoughts he snapped the water tap closed. He left the shower, rudely wrapped a towel around his waist and stared at the sink where he had pinned Cavendish less than an hour ago to kiss him senseless.

Bartolomeo exhaled a loud sigh. Against his will he couldn't help to wonder what would have happened if Cavendish and him hadn't discussed, because deep inside he knew that if that had been the case, he wouldn't have taken that shower alone. And that knowledge frustrated him to no end.

* * *

 **Well, hope you have enjoyed the first part of the chapter :D And about the ending don't worry: those two idiots will eventually end 'somewhat together' :)**

 **Thanks a lot for the kudos and the comments so far 3 3 Don't hesitate in keeping telling me what you think ^^**


	8. Chapter 8

**Cavendish and Bartolomeo begin their third and last job in separated ways. There is a slight complication during the mission.**

* * *

After having dinner in a nearby restaurant Cavendish was about to call Rebecca to tell her that he accepted that extra bed in her inn, but at the end he decided to come back to his room. Otherwise it would be as if he was running from Bartolomeo and he didn't want to give that impression.

When Cavendish was finally in front of his room he let out a sigh and used the card that miraculously kept being in his pocket since that morning to open the door. The room was completely dark and when his eyes adapted to the lack of light Cavendish detected Bartolomeo's figure on the bed, lying on one of his sides. Cavendish's first conclusion was that Bartolomeo was already asleep, but he had the feeling that something was missing for that to be possible…

Oh, yes, he remembered the detail that was missing. The last time that he had seen Bartolomeo dead asleep he was snoring rather loudly but now the pirate was completely silent, so probably he was just pretending to be asleep. Well, it was better that way, Cavendish thought while leaving his riding hood on the nearest chair. The last thing he wanted at that moment was to have another conversation/discussion with that idiot.

Cavendish grabbed his things and entered the bathroom to get changed. He reappeared with his pajama on barely a minute later and when approaching the bed he saw with relief that there was enough space for him to lie down without the risk of touching Bartolomeo. He entered the bed all the noiselessly that he could and lied on his right side, giving his back to Bartolomeo.

"Thought you were going to spend the night with one of your multiple groupies"

Cavendish felt his heart jump in his chest when Bartolomeo suddenly spoke. Damn, goodbye to go to sleep without an awkward conversation.

"I considered the option but I wasn't in the mood", he lied, causing Bartolomeo to hum to himself, and Cavendish didn't know if it had been his imagination but he would swear that Bartolomeo had been about to let out a relieved sigh.

There was a brief moment of uncomfortable silence that Cavendish decided to eventually break.

"So tomorrow's hideout is a mine"

"Yep, that's what Becca said"

"And during the mission you'll be acting as a bait while I find the information"

"Yep, that's the plan. Have any problem with it?"

"No", Cavendish made sure to adopt a casual tone, "just be sure not to do anything stupid tomorrow. The fact that the mercenaries have discovered your identity doesn't mean that you can lose your head out there and take unnecessary risks"

Cavendish felt Bartolomeo shift behind him, probably to look at him.

"That's your way to tell me to have care, Cabbage?"

Cavendish felt his cheeks burning in embarrassment because now that he re-studied his words it had sounded exactly like that.

"O-Of course not, you idiot! Just that you should be careful not to ruin the mission by being too reckless, that's all"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Just make sure to grab that info the fastest you can and everything will be fine"

After another pause Cavendish was about to close his eyes to finally try to sleep but Bartolomeo stopped him from doing so by speaking again.

"Oi, Cabbage. About your dream…"

Cavendish tensed when hearing Bartolomeo's words and spoke with a defensive sarcastic tone.

"What? Are you going to mock me again for it?"

"Sorry", Cavendish's eyes snapped opened, not expecting that word coming from Bartolomeo's mouth, "I shouldn't have said that it was stupid. I still don't get why the hell you care so much about being popular when you are already a rather acceptable pirate but if that's your dream I shouldn't have insulted it. Sorry"

Cavendish gulped, feeling his heart beat hysterically inside his chest. He had just assumed that he and Bartolomeo were going to be ignoring each other from then on. He hadn't expected that apology at all. And damn, until that moment he had been desiring to finish that job and never cross paths with that idiot ever again but now he wasn't so sure anymore.

"W-Well, I said some stupid things too", Cavendish admitted, clearing his throat, "and I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said that your teeth are ridiculous. Because they aren't"

Another silence fell but this time the tension was different from the previous one, since there was a sexual component in it that definitely wasn't there before.

Cavendish bit his bottom lip, finding himself reconsidering the possibility of being in a relationship with Bartolomeo. However, just when he was hesitating about bringing the theme up again Bartolomeo stood up from the bed.

"Where are you going?", Cavendish asked confused.

"To have another drink", the pirate said simply, putting his purple coat on, "I'm too awake right now and that's the most effective way to put me to sleep"

Cavendish rolled his eyes.

"I could give you a sleeping pill"

"Nah, I prefer alcohol", Bartolomeo approached the door, "but this time _you_ better not take up all the space of the bed when I come back or I'll be the one in kicking your ass"

Cavendish huffed before finally closing his eyes.

"Don't worry. I won't touch your stinky side"

"Great then", Bartolomeo made a military salute approaching his index and middle finger to his temple and closed the door behind him.

Cavendish let out a long sigh. A part of him regretted that Bartolomeo had left just before being able to talk about that matter but another part was grateful because somehow it seemed that now he and Bartolomeo were again in good terms, and it would be a pity to ruin it with a question that was going to be inevitable awkward.

Besides, now that he was thinking calmly about it, there was nothing to talk about. After all Cavendish wasn't going to give up on his dream, and if he really wanted to achieve it Bartolomeo couldn't be in the equation. He would really like that there was a way to reach his final goal and to be able to be somewhat together with that idiot, but he didn't know how that was going to be possible, so the best he could do was to forget the whole incident. Even if deep inside, he didn't want to forget it. Even if deep inside, he would have liked that the previous tension had snapped and had ended with both of them doing something completely stupid like continuing what they had left unfinished a couple of hours ago.

* * *

Instead of going to drink as he had claimed, Bartolomeo abandoned the inn and began to walk, enjoying the cold air of the night. Before he hadn't initially planned to apologize for his words but after Cavendish unconsciously showed his worry for him he had said it in an impulse. And when the man apologized as well…shit, he had been incredibly tempted to try to resume what they had been doing in the bathroom. And he had the feeling that in case of doing that, Cavendish wouldn't have stopped him.

However, that would have only complicated things even more. Cavendish had already said that his priority was to achieve fame and popularity, and being with Bartolomeo would be an impediment for that. And what Cavendish had said about being lovers secretly, Bartolomeo didn't like it one bit. Because it wasn't that Bartolomeo wanted to make formal his relationship with Cavendish but he wanted to be free to do whatever the hell he wanted without caring about other people knowing.

Bartolomeo wanted to meet Cavendish whenever he wanted even if he was forced to waste his money in a fancy place that suited that idiot's tastes. He wanted to bring Cavendish to his favorite pubs and burst out laughing when seeing the grimace that he was surely going to put. He wanted to be able to suddenly pinch Cavendish's ass and made him shout at him bright red that it was inappropriate. He wanted to bring Cavendish to his dorm and seeing him criticize his Strawhat decoration before pushing him to his bed and made his protests turn into moans when he fucked him hard and good (at least, he hoped to be able to do so). And shit, if at the end they ended becoming like those horribly sickeningly sweet pairs that held hands in public and went to dates, he wanted to be able to do it without worrying about anything.

Bartolomeo kept walking until reaching a small park. He took a seat on a bench and scratched the back of his head rudely. Well, it was stupid to be thinking in all those things that were not going to happen. He should be content that things between Cavendish and him had come back to be as they were before they crossed that line, so the best thing he could do was to focus on the present. He would finish the job, would receive his reward, would come back with his guys, and probably the next time that he saw that idiot again would be when Luffy-senpai asked the alliance for help, and god knew when that would be.

After several minutes Bartolomeo stood up to come back to the inn, this time to have that drink. With a little of luck when Cavendish and him went separated ways again he would eventually forget about him. And then he would be back to be the usual Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal': the one who only sought the acknowledgment of the Straw-Hats and that hadn't anything to do with that pompous captain of the Beautiful Pirates that had managed to mess up with his head like no one had been able to do it before.

* * *

"Are you sure that you know what to do?

Bartolomeo exhaled an exasperated groan. He, Cavendish and Farul were hiding behind a rather giant rock outside the mine that they had to assault, waiting for the best moment to initiate the mission, and during that time Cavendish hadn't stopped annoying him with his distrustful questions for even one second.

"For thousandth time YES, I know what to do. Jeez, you are a pain in the ass, how many times have you asked me that already?"

"Well, excuse me if I'm a little worry for working with a guy who I found asleep in the inn's bar after getting drunk"

Cavendish's reproachful tone made Bartolomeo roll his eyes but didn't say anything. It was true that the night before he had miscalculated the number of drinks that he had ingested and when he had woken up the attractive angry face of Cavendish looking at him from above had been the first thing that he had seen.

At that moment Farul bumped his nose softly against the back of Cavendish head before signaling towards the mine. Cavendish and Bartolomeo looked at the entrance again and saw that the mercenaries of the entrance had relaxed a little and were busy talking between them instead of being in alert.

"It's our chance", Cavendish whispered while Bartolomeo set into position crossing his fingers, "remember: just keep them busy. Don't stupidly waste your power because we don't know if we are going to need it lat… _o-oi_!"

While ignoring Cavendish's last indications Bartolomeo stepped outside the rock and created a barrier that he threw against the mercenaries, causing them to fly inside the entrance with high-pitched cries.

"You talk too much, Cabbage", Bartolomeo simply said, sticking his tongue out mockingly, "just make sure to recover that info while I do my part"

After that Bartolomeo disappeared towards the mine's entrance, leaving a rather exasperated and outraged Cavendish behind.

"That idiot…", Cavendish turned to look at Farul, who was looking at the place where Bartolomeo had disappeared with a reproachful look, "you wait here, alright? I have the feeling that we are going to leave the mine quite in a hurry"

Cavendish smiled when Farul nodded eagerly. He patted the horse's neck with affection and after adjusting his riding hood so that his face wasn't seen he began to walk fast but noiselessly through the side of the mountain where the mine was.

This time it took Cavendish some minutes to find the lateral entrance that Rebecca's spy had mentioned because it was really well hidden. He was forced to crawl along the ground through a really small passage and a couple of times he seriously feared to get stuck. However, after some oppressive minutes he managed to get inside the mine safe and sound.

Cavendish rolled his eyes when hearing the ruckus that Bartolomeo was causing. Definitely, that bastard didn't know how to hold back. He just hoped not to find too many difficulties to reach the bottom level, where the info was stored.

In his way down he just encountered a couple of mercenaries that he could neutralize without any difficulties until finally reaching the final door. He opened it carefully, considering the possibility of an alarm sounding even if Rebecca's spy hadn't commented anything about it, but nothing happened when he opened it and slid inside.

This time there wasn't any suspicious painting hanging in the walls so Cavendish spent several minutes searching in the absolutely disorganized storage until he noticed a small section of the wall that looked as if it had just been covered rapidly. Cavendish used his sword in the zone and in no time the hole was re-opened, revealing a safe really similar to the other two he had already opened.

"Really, these guys should take lessons about how to hide secret information", Cavendish muttered.

After trying several combinations Cavendish managed to open it to find inside the envelope that he hoped it would be the last.

"Alright", Cavendish extracted the den-den mushi from his pocket after verifying that the information inside the envelope was what they were looking for, "I'll warn that idiot that he can stop having fun up there"

Cavendish was about to dial Bartolomeo's number but just at that moment the den-den mushi began to sound. Cavendish frowned, confused, before accepting the call.

"Yes?"

" _Cavendish! Thank goodness that you have answered_ "

Cavendish's confusion turned into concern when hearing Rebecca's voice trembling with nervousness.

"Rebecca? What happens? Is it something wrong?"

" _Yes, I'm afraid so. Where are you now?_ "

"In the mine. I've just found the last letter while that idiot is distracting the mercenaries"

" _Alright_ ", Cavendish heard Rebecca let out a trembling sigh, " _Cavendish, you have to come back with Bartolomeo right now_ "

"What? Why?"

" _My spy had just called me to warn me that new mercenaries that he hadn't seen before have just arrived at the mine. And those mercenaries…Cavendish, they are half-giants_ "

Cavendish felt his heart stop for a brief moment.

"Wait a minute, if what you're saying is true then that means that right now Bartolomeo…"

Without even realizing Cavendish hanged up and abandoned the room as fast as lightning.

If Bartolomeo was doing what he thought he was doing he was going to kill that bastard.

* * *

Bartolomeo finally found coverage behind one of the columns of the main room. He was panting, trying to gather some air after having been running in an attempt to avoid those monsters' attacks.

The mission had begun smoothly. The mercenaries weren't supposing any challenge for him and during the first minutes he hadn't had any problems in dealing with them. Shit, for a moment he had felt even bored with how easy the assault was being.

But then those three giants had appeared out of nowhere and everything had turned a little more complicated, since the damage that he could infringe them was almost non-existent and the barriers that he was forced to create to contain them and to avoid to be crushed were making his stamina run out way faster than he had expected. Damn, if things continued as they were he was going to be forced to call Cavendish for help and definitely he didn't want to do that…

" _YOU IDIOT_!"

Bartolomeo almost jumped when suddenly hearing that familiar appellative. He followed the direction of the voice just in time to see Cavendish run towards him with an angry expression on his face. Apparently, he had just come out from a lateral entrance.

"Cabbage?!", Bartolomeo exclaimed while the pirate took coverage next to him, "dude, are you a psychic or something?!"

"No, you idiot, Rebecca has just called me to warn me about the giants!", Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo, "why the hell haven't you called me for help?! You're about to collapse from exhaustion!"

"Hey, that's not true!", Bartolomeo protested, "I still can take care of it! Besides, it was _my_ mission to distract the mercenaries, not yours!"

Cavendish was about to hit Bartolomeo with exasperation but at that moment they were forced to roll and run towards another column when one of the giants destroyed the column where they had been seconds ago with just one hit.

"Damn", Cavendish cursed, his blue eyes scanning the room rapidly to come up with a plan different from the one he had already on mind, "the other two giants are just in front of our exit"

Bartolomeo made sure to adopt a firm tone that didn't show how tired he was really feeling.

"If I create a barrier around us we could try to reach the entrance"

Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo.

"Do you think I am dumb? There is no way that you have energy to do that. We are too far away from it"

Bartolomeo rolled his eyes and was about to insist but he shut up when seeing Cavendish extract a small bottle from his pocket.

"What the hell is that?"

"Ether", Cavendish answered, "if I smell this, I will immediately faint"

It took Bartolomeo a couple of seconds to understand what Cavendish was planning to do.

"Wait…", Bartolome's eyes opened at its maximum, "are you crazy?! Are you going to make that monster appear?!"

"Do you have a better alternative?!", Cavendish snapped, "fighting directly against them is not an option. You can barely stand, and even if I could eventually turn them down by when I manage to do it they will have called for reinforcements"

Another hit delivered by the giant scattered the column in small pieces, forcing the two pirates to hide this time behind a mine wagon.

"Shit", Bartolomeo cursed, but before he could protest Cavendish extracted the envelope that he had just stolen and offered it to Bartolomeo.

"Keep this and listen carefully: the moment I faint, find a place to hide so that Hakuba doesn't know where you are. And the most important thing", Cavendish's eyes turned deadly serious while talking next, " _don't_ interfere in the fight. If you do, Hakuba will attack you. He isn't me. He doesn't differentiate allies from enemies so don't do anything stupid like trying to help me like you did yesterday, understood?"

Bartolomeo sighed with reluctance but since they hadn't much time to waste he ended accepting the envelope with a rude gesture. After that, Cavendish uncapped the little bottle. He just had to approach it lightly to his nose to fall completely asleep.

Bartolomeo grabbed Cavendish before he hit the ground and left him lying on it carefully. He didn't like the new plan one bit but Cavendish was right, they hadn't too many options, so while cursing loudly to attract the giants attention towards him Bartolomeo ran until reaching another mine wagon to hide behind.

When some seconds had passed and nothing happened Bartolomeo thought that Hakuba wasn't going to appear. However, just when he was going to come back towards the fallen Cavendish one of the giants that were guarding the entrance exhaled a loud pained shout. Bartolomeo stuck out his head to look towards the place from where the cry had sounded it and he saw it: that being that looked exactly like Cavendish with the exception of his scary demonic face using his sword against the giant with almost unreal fast movements that Bartolomeo couldn't even follow.

When seeing his companion so brutally attacked, the other giant that was guarding the door immediately began to attack Hakuba, and the giant that until now was going after Bartolomeo decided that the newcomer supposed a most dangerous threat and ignored Bartolomeo to come after the demonic attacker as well.

Bartolomeo remained quite in his place but his hands turned into tight fists because even if it was obvious that Hakuba was really skilled and deadly, the three giants weren't precisely slow either, and had way more resistance than the mercenaries that they have been facing until then.

Consequently, even if Hakuba ended beating one of the giants in less than a minute, one of the two remaining giants eventually managed to deliver a hit that caused Hakuba to fly towards the other side of the room to end impacting painfully against the wall. Bartolomeo gritted his teeth when Hakuba stood up as if nothing had happened and immediately resumed his attack. Maybe that demon didn't feel any pain, but he was using Cavendish's body, and that hit had probably broken a couple of ribs.

Bartolomeo cursed in a low tone, observing Hakuba attack non-stop the giants over and over again, and even if in just another minute Hakuba managed to beat the second one, when the last giant managed to hit Hakuba once again Bartolomeo decided to intervene.

He knew that Cavendish was going to kill him when everything finished, but if things kept going that way it was going to be Cavendish the one who would end killed because there was a huge problem when depending on Hakuba's power: yes, he was powerful, extremely powerful, but because of his bloodlust and his liking for killing he was extremely reckless. He didn't mind getting hurt of not, or better said if Cavendish was hurt of not, and that could be really dangerous for Cavendish.

So even if he knew that probably it wasn't a very rise idea Bartolomeo stopped hiding behind the mine wagon and began to run towards Hakuba and the giant. Bartolomeo had still enough power to make a big horizontal barrier that he threw with all his strength against the giant's nape just when Hakuba was going to be hit again. The fact that the giant was already pretty hurt thanks to Hakuba continuous attacks and that he had forgotten completely Bartolomeo's presence allowed the barrier to impact against him without giving him time to react.

The giant fell into the ground with a loud bump and Bartolomeo exhaled a relieved sigh. However, the moment that Hakuba saw that his current enemy had been knocked down he immediately turned his interest towards Bartolomeo.

The pirate was already prepared to receive Hakuba's attack but he underestimated the demon's speed _and_ overestimated his current ability, and the result was that just when half of the barrier had been created, Hakuba was already over him.

Bartolomeo had barely time to register a sharp pain in his chest and to see a splash of blood coming from what he deduced it was his body before darkness involved him and he collapsed into the ground.

* * *

When Bartolomeo fell Hakuba immediately attacked again, since the pirate was injured but was still breathing. However, just when his sword was going to land in Bartolomeo's chest in this time a mortal wound something stopped Hakuba from continuing. And that something was certain feeling that he found inside the man that he was at that moment possessing.

Hakuba stared at Bartolomeo with his unchanging scary expression but deep inside he felt confused. There had to be some kind of mistake. It was impossible that Cavendish was feeling _that way_ for that pirate. It had no sense at all. But well, he had never understood humans, and the only thing that Hakuba knew was that killing that man was going to damage Cavendish quite a lot, and he couldn't allow that. Not if he wanted to keep using that body for hurting and killing at its heart content. So he would leave that pirate alive. After all, he had already had a lot of fun with those giants already.

* * *

Cavendish woke up when feeling something soft and a little wet caressing his forehead. He opened his eyes slowly and found Farul over him, using his nose to wake him up.

"Hey, Farul"

Cavendish showed a pained grimace while incorporating painfully into a sitting position. All the muscles of his body were protesting, his head was aching and a couple of his ribs had to be broken for sure but if Farul was there that meant that he had managed to beat those giants, so he had just to find Bartolomeo to get out of that damn mine.

At that moment Farul neighed loudly, catching Cavendish's attention and making the pirate look towards him.

Cavendish opened his eyes wide in a mix of fear and confusion when seeing the motionless figure of Bartolomeo lying barely a meter away from him.

"What the…?", Cavendish crawled towards the fallen pirate rapidly, ignoring completely the pain that was assaulting his body and feeling his heart beating crazily inside his chest, "oi, Bartolomeo, wake up! What the hell are you doing lying ther…?"

And then Cavendish saw it, the thin bloody injury that was diagonally crossing Bartolomeo's chest.

Cavendish froze, recognizing the shape of the wound, and even if he already knew the answer he unleashed his own sword to find it covered in fresh flood, confirming what he had been fearing.

"You jerk…", Cavendish exhaled with a trembling voice, glaring at the unconscious Bartolomeo, "…I told you _not to interfere_ , you idiot!"

At that moment Farul tensed and looked behind them, his ears pushed backwards in alert, indicating Cavendish that more mercenaries were going to appear.

"Damn", Cavendish hurriedly removed his riding hood and covered Bartolomeo's front with it, trying to press as much as he could the wound so that it didn't bleed so much, "you better not die or I'll kill you, you hear me?"

With Farul's help Cavendish managed to put Bartolomeo on the horse in a horizontal way, with Bartolomeo's arms and legs hanging on either side of Farul. It wasn't the most adequate position because his wound was going to be in almost direct contact with Farul's back but there was the only way.

Cavendish got on the horse just behind Bartolomeo. He grabbed with one Farul's reins and placed the other over the Bartolomeo's body to secure him and stop it from falling.

"Let's go, Farul", Cavendish ordered, "let's go to our ship"

Farul nodded and with a determined neigh he galloped out of the mine just when more reinforcements where coming.

Cavendish stared at the unconscious figure of Bartolomeo and gritted his teeth, and expression fury and deep concern adorning his face.

"You better not die, you jerk", he muttered, his voice way shakier than he would have liked, "you better not fucking die"

* * *

 **Don't worry, no one dies in this story :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**While recovering from their injuries, Cavendish and Bartolomeo have a** **talk** **verbal fight in order to settle things once and for all.**

* * *

Bartolomeo woke up several hours later in a canopy bed, feeling completely lost. He looked around, utterly confused, and when seeing the multiple portraits, photographs and posters of an always smiling Cavendish adorning the already ornate room Bartolomeo thought for a moment that he had died, and that he was in a strange Heaven in which Cavendish would appear at any moment to make a good use of the bed where he was now lying.

However, after hopingly waiting for some seconds Bartolomeo deduced that no, he wasn't dead. First, because considering his antecedents as a pirate there was no way that he ended in a Heaven where a horny Cavendish was willing to fulfill his most perverted desires. And second, because the numbness and discomfort that he was feeling in his chest were too damn real and convinced him that he was still alive.

Consequently, the place where he had woken up was probably Cavendish's room. Just that egocentric bastard would have all those walls adorned with his own portraits. Although well, Bartolomeo had ALL his ship adorned with things of the Straw-Hats, so he could also be in the ship of an obsessed fan of Cavendish but that was less probable. There were certain blurred images in his head of someone (probably Cavendish) carrying him in a horse (probably Farul) that proved his first theory.

With certain difficulty Bartolomeo incorporated into a sitting position. Someone had removed his coat and had bandaged his chest almost completely so he couldn't see how bad the wound that he had received was, but he could feel it stinging a little so Bartolomeo deduced that it hadn't been just a superficial injury.

At that moment the door of the room opened and Cavendish entered. The pirate's eyes opened more for a moment when realizing that Bartolomeo was up but almost immediately he recovered his neutral expression.

Bartolomeo crossed his naked arms while looking at Cavendish, getting prepared to obtain some kind of outburst coming from the pirate for having disobeyed his indications during the mission. However, Cavendish simply closed the door behind him carefully and approached the bed with calm steps.

"Good afternoon, Bartolomeo. I see that you are finally awake"

Bartolomeo's defensive expression turned surprised when hearing Cavendish's paused tone. He looked at the pirate cautiously. Maybe at the end he had been mistaken and Cavendish wasn't going to shout at him as he had been expecting.

"Yeah. What time is it?", Bartolomeo asked, still expecting that Cavendish exploded at any moment.

"Half past two. You've been asleep for three hours"

"And this is your room?"

"Yes, you are in my ship. Farul and I carried you here after the mission and called a doctor so that you were attended"

Bartolomeo nodded, finally relaxing. Well, against all odds it seemed that Cavendish wasn't angry with him. It was strange but he was not going to complain.

"So…", Cavendish sat on the edge of the bed facing Bartolomeo, "how are you feeling?"

"Not bad. My chest hurts a little but it's bearable"

Cavendish hummed to himself

"And your face? Does it hurt somewhere?"

Bartolomeo shook his head and smiled widely.

"Nope, my head is as fine as always"

Cavendish smiled charmingly.

"Perfect then"

Bartolomeo had barely time to see Cavendish raising his arm before experiencing a burning pain in his jaw, and it took him some seconds to realize that he had just received a punch.

"HEY! What the hell is your problem?!", Bartolomeo exclaimed, rubbing his hurt jaw with his hand.

"That's what you deserve for being about to die!", Cavendish shouted. His previous fake calm was nowhere to be found and now his expression was just showing anger, "I told you not to intervene so why the hell did you do it?!"

Bartolomeo let out an annoyed groan. He should have known that Cavendish not getting angry was too good to be true.

"Oh, I don't know", Bartolomeo snapped with sarcasm, "maybe because _you_ were about to die when that fucking monster began to attack like crazy?!"

"I had everything under control, you stupid idiot", Cavendish hissed, "so it was completely unnecessary that you risked yourself like that!"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Okay, just one question, Cabbage: why are you wearing your shirt completely buttoned?"

Even if it was just for a brief second Cavendish made the mistake of tensing.

"Barto, if you are trying to change the subject you're doing it horribly so…"

"Open it"

"…What?"

"Open you shirt"

"I'm sorry, but if you are so willing to see my beautiful body you can watch my multiple photos and…"

Bartolomeo interrupted Cavendish's sentence by grabbing the edges of his shirt and opening the clothing rudely, making the buttons fly across the room.

"You animal!", Cavendish exclaimed, looking his broken shirt in horror, "do you even know how damn much this shirt costs?!"

"No, I don't and I don't give a shit about your damn shirt, just look at you", Bartolomeo signaled with an accusatory finger at Cavendish's bandaged chest that was now on full display, "you are criticizing me but you did the same!"

"For goodness sake, a couple of ribs are nothing compared to the stab of a sword! If you don't believe me ask the doctor because I'm not the one who was bleeding to death when arriving here: _YOU_ were!", Cavendish snapped, leaning forward towards Bartolomeo to dig his finger in the middle of Bartolomeo's chest, where his wound didn't reach.

"Maybe you weren't bleeding but if I hadn't intervened you would have died smashed against a fucking wall, you geezer!", Bartolomeo grabbed Cavendish's by the collar to approach his face to him until he could perfectly see that idiot's long eyelashes, "So you should be thanking me for having helped you instead of getting angry!"

"I already told you that I don't want your help!", Cavendish managed to approach his face even more to Bartolomeo until their noses were brushing, "Not if that's going to mean that you die, and much less if I'm going to be one in killing you, you asshole!"

"And what was I supposed to do?! To watch you be beaten to death without doing anything?! HAH!", Bartolomeo bumped his forehead against Cavendish's one causing the blonde to hiss low in pain, "sorry, Cabbage, but like hell if I was going to let that happen!"

When Bartolomeo and Cavendish finished talking they were almost without air, their chests going up and down heavily, their accelerated breathings mixing together with every exhalation because of their extremely close proximity.

Both pirates kept interchanging an angry glare, throwing daggers at each other, but because of the close distance nor Cavendish nor Bartolomeo couldn't help to eventually divert their attention towards the other one's mouth.

It was just a simple gesture, but it was enough to cause a light change in the cutting tension that had been surrounding them until then, so when their eyes met again, the angry glint that had been adorning them had been replaced by something quite different but as much intense. Something that caused both pirates to dive forward at the same time and smash their lips together in a searing, passionate kiss.

Bartolomeo immediately dragged Cavendish's body towards him, making the pirate almost stumble on the bed. Cavendish recovered just in time his balance and without hesitation he straddled Bartolomeo's lap. He enclosed his arms around the pirate's neck while this one settled his around his waist. During all the change of position they didn't stop sharing kisses that gradually turned more desperate and needier, full of tongue, saliva and repressed want.

Cavendish didn't know how they had passed from arguing to make out like a pair of horny teenagers but at that moment the only thing he cared about was how damn good Bartolomeo's tongue rolling against his felt and how his built arms were enclosing him in an almost possessive embrace. Damn it, that idiot had really scared him, being about to die like that.

And if Cavendish didn't want to waste his time thinking, Bartolomeo wasn't going to be less. Cavendish's lean but firm body flushed together against his and his soft kips moving so demandingly against his rougher ones were the only thing that mattered at that fucking moment…

 _BAM!_

Bartolomeo and Cavendish hadn't time to adopt a less compromising position when suddenly the door snapped opened and a feminine figure stomped in the room.

"R-Rebecca?!", Cavendish exclaimed bright red, still sitting on Bartolomeo's lap, "W-We can explain this! W-We just…"

But Cavendish couldn't keep explaining himself because at that moment Rebecca practically jumped in the canopy bed to hug them both so tightly that both pirates exhaled respective pained gasps.

"Thank goodness", Rebecca whispered in a faltering tone, "thank goodness that you are alive. When I was told that there were giants in the mine I thought that you were going to die!"

"Becca, we are alive but if you keep crushing us that will change!"

"Oh, sorry!"

Both pirates exhaled a long relieved sigh when Rebecca finally released them and sat on his heels on the bed in a kneeled position.

"Sorry, you must want to rest right now but I had to come here because…", the girl leant both of her hands on the bed just in front of her and bowed until her face touched her hands, "…I had to thank you personally and to apologize. I shouldn't have involved you in this. You've been about to die because of my stupid mission and I'm really sorry and…"

"Rebecca…", Cavendish left Bartoloemo's lap and knelt next to Revecca to place a hand over the girl's trembling back, "Rebecca, it's okay. Everything has ended well so you don't have to cry"

"Yeah, Cabbage is right", Bartolomeo intervened, adopting his best nonchalant tone, "besides, we are pirates, remember? We don't die that easily"

Cavendish half-closed his eyes at Bartolomeo and was about to protest to that statement but he shut up when Rebecca finally incorporated again. Big tears were rolling down her eyes and she was grabbing her top lip with her trembling bottom lip, trying to suppress back her hiccups and sobs.

"So you don't have to blame yourself", Cavendish offered Rebecca his handkerchief, "we both accepted this job at our own risk, and you helped us a lot even if it wasn't necessary and for that reason…", Cavendish grabbed one of Rebecca's hands and approached it to his lips in a flirtatious manner, "…you have our deepest gratitude, my lady"

"Oh, _please_ …"

"What?", Cavendish replied immediately, frowning at Bartolomeo when hearing his disgusted tone.

"Nothing, just that your Casanova mode is worse than I had expected"

"Well, sorry if you don't know the correct way to treat a lady"

"I seriously doubt that Becca likes to be treated that way. She is more man than you"

"Excuse me?! Are you telling me that I'm not man enough?!"

"When you do that kind of things nope, you aren't"

"Tsk, you are just jealous that I don't treat you this way!"

"HAH?! What the hell do you mean by that?! Like hell if I want you to do those shitty things with me, _yuck_!"

At that moment Rebecca burst out laughing, causing both pirates to look at her.

"I'm so glad that everything is fine between you two again", Rebecca dried her eyes with Cavendish's handkerchief and smiled a little teasingly before talking next, "or more than fine considering what I've seen when entering"

Bartolomeo and Cavendish gulped and interchanged an awkward look before looking away. Rebecca looked at them alternatively, a little confused at first, but somehow she seemed to understand the pirate's situation because she suppressed a tiny smile and cleared her throat.

"Well, I'll let you rest. I just wanted to see that you were okay", Rebecca stepped out of the bed, "I'll come again in a couple of days with the money of the two last missions"

"About the letters, ask Suleiman about them", Cavendish indicated, "he kept them safe while we were being treated by the doctor"

Rebecca nodded and with her eyes brighter than usual she bowed her head again.

"Again, thank you so much for everything. I'm in your debt"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Just invite me to some drinks when I recover and we will be even"

Rebecca giggled when seeing Cavendish roll his eyes and after saying them goodbye she closed the door behind her, leaving the two pirates alone with a rather heavy tension surrounding them.

Cavendish gulped and threw a side glance towards Bartolomeo, who at that moment was extremely busy digging his pinky in his ear while looking at everything but Cavendish, so the blond pirate deduced that, for once, he was going to be the one in initiating a conversation.

"So…", Cavendish cleared his throat when his voice came out a little nervous, "…about what has happened before…"

"I get it. We will just pretend that it hasn't happened"

Cavendish felt his heart stop for a moment when hearing Bartolomeo's firm words. He looked at Bartolomeo in utter disbelief.

"What?"

Now, it was Bartolomeo's turn to look at Cavendish with his eyes opened wide. He had said that just because he thought that it was what Cavendish was going to say, not because he actually wanted it that way.

"Wait, don't you want that?"

Cavendish felt his heart begin to pound rapidly inside his chest. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to put in order his thoughts before speaking, but at the end he realized that his own thoughts were a little messy and that it was probably the best to talk about it without thinking too much, even if the result was probably going to be a little confusing.

"W-Well, that would be the best if I wanted to keep having my reputation of perfect pirate intact, but I've realized that no matter how hard I try, my stupid brain just doesn't want to forget about you. And it's not just that, this morning when Hakuba hurt you and I brought you here and for a moment you really seemed about to die…", Cavendish crossed his arms and averted his eyes, gulping loudly, "I was really scared"

Bartolomeo kept staring at Cavendish in disbelief, but before even being able to think about something to reply Cavendish continued talking.

"S-So, my point is…", Cavendish cleared his throat and looked at Bartolomeo again, trying to look confident and not at all nervous, "…that if I'm going to keep thinking about you and I'm going to keep worrying about you for being such a stupid reckless idiot even if we are not together…well, at least we could be together so that this has a little more sense, don't you think?"

Bartolomeo blinked twice, seeing Cavendish's face turn redder and redder with every second, and even if he tried to answer at the end he found himself laughing loudly, thing that of course caused Cavendish to end even more red.

"O-Oi! Why the hell are you laughing, you idiot?!"

"Oh shit, sorry", Bartolomeo exclaimed, still between laughs, "but seeing the heartbreaker Cavendish declaring himself like that has been too funny"

Cavendish glared at Bartolomeo continuing laughing and clicked his tongue, feeling deeply embarrassed.

"I knew that I was making a mistake by telling you all thi…"

Suddenly, Cavendish found himself in Bartolomeo's lap again.

And suddenly, his lips were assaulted by a more than eager Bartolomeo that didn't hesitate to make the most of Cavendish's confusion to plunge his tongue inside Cavendish's parted mouth.

Cavendish couldn't prevent a soft sigh from escaping his mouth when his tongue joined Bartolomeo's again. He closed his eyes and settled his hands over Bartolomeo's shoulders, kissing back with fervor, and even if Bartolomeo hadn't replied with words, what he had just done was all the answer Cavendish needed.

After several seconds, they were forced to pull apart to take air, and Cavendish's embarrassment came back at full force when noticing the smirk that Bartolomeo had when they separated.

"Tsk, stop looking so damn satisfied, you idiot", he snapped, even if he was having serious difficulties in suppressing a smile.

"Heh, sorry, but knowing that the great Pirate Prince has fallen for Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal' is rather satisfying"

Cavendish huffed.

"Sorry, but I am the one who made Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal' fall for me first, not the other way around"

"Nope, you were after me first so I made you fall for me first"

"I was drunk at that moment, so that doesn't count!"

"Yep, it counts"

"No, it _doesn't_ "

"Yep, it does"

" _No_ "

"Yep"

"Argh! God, just shut up!"

Bartolomeo smirked challengingly.

"Shut me up then"

Cavendish was about to hit Bartolomeo with exasperation but at the end he decided to adopt other method, so he grabbed forcibly Bartolomeo by the back of his hair and yanked his head back to kiss him furiously, and it was his turn to smirk when Bartolomeo groaned quite loudly, digging his hands on Cavendish's hips while shivering.

"Shit…", Bartolomeo breathed in almost awe some moments later when Cavendish stopped the kiss, "…damn, you kiss well, you bastard"

Cavendish chuckled, immensely pleased.

"You are rather easy to impress, Barto", Cavendish teased before diverting his mouth to Bartolomeo's ear to add with a more sensual tone, "I can do many other things"

Cavendish finished the sentence grabbing Bartolomeo's earlobe between his teeth slowly. The pirate's smirk widened when Bartolomeo shivered again under him, obviously excited, but at that moment Bartolomeo kissed him again hard and Cavendish exhaled a surprised gasp when suddenly feeling Bartolomeo's hand grabbing his ass with a rather evident intent.

"O-Oi, what are you doing?", Cavendish said, settling his own hands over Bartolomeo's ones.

"Wait, aren't we going to fuck?!"

Cavendish's eyes almost pop out from their sockets when Bartolomeo exclaimed that with a shocked expression, and even if Bartolomeo spelling that last word had made his lower half twitch in interest Cavendish forced himself to be the reasonable and mature one.

"O-Of course we aren't! At least not now, you haven't recovered yet!"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Come on, the wound is not that bad…"

"Yes, it is, you idiot. And if you strain yourself too much it will open again"

Bartolomeo thought for a moment before looking at Cavendish hopingly.

"And what if you ride me? That way I won't move that much"

Cavendish huffed, and crossed his arms.

"So you are assuming that I'm going to be the passive one"

Bartolomeo's mouth snapped opened. In his imagination he was always the one who fucked Cavendish until he ended crying for more, so he hadn't even considered the other possibility. However, then thinking about Cavendish taking control…shit, it didn't sound bad at all. And if the bastard was so good with his mouth he was surely good with other parts of his body as well so no, definitely Bartolomeo wouldn't mind to take the passive role as long as he could take the other as well.

"Well, if you want it the other way around we can always throw heads or tails"

Cavendish snapped a hand over his forehead when hearing the infantile proposition, but the truth was that he had liked hearing Bartolomeo agree so easily. A part of him had been a little afraid that Bartolomeo rejected the idea, since the man certainly didn't look like the passive type, so Cavendish was glad to know that Bartolomeo was disposed to adopt that role as well.

"It won't be necessary. I don't mind to let you take control _but_ …", Cavendish added when seeing Bartolomeo's eyes illuminate, "…we will wait until you recover, and that will be in a couple of days at least"

Bartolomeo let out a frustrated grunt and reluctantly removed his hands from Cavendish's ass.

"Okaaay, but in two days I'm going to drag you to my ship's bedroom and I won't let you escape"

Cavendish couldn't help to chuckle when hearing Bartolomeo's threat.

"If you invite me to your ship I will go. You don't need to try to kidnap me"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh, and was about to reply when suddenly he realized something.

"But wait, you can't go to my ship or my men will discover us. Argh, what a pity! I wanted to show you my Straw-Hat poster's collection"

Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo with surprise.

"Wait a moment, do you want to keep our…umh…relationship in secret?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish without understanding.

"No, but you do, right? After all you were right when saying that probably being with me was going to affect your reputation, so until you become the most famous, beautiful and blah blah blah pirate in the world I won't say anything but…", Bartolomeo smirked widely, "…when you fulfill your dream I plan to spread the news of the perfect Pirate Prince being under the clutches of Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal'"

Cavendish stared at Bartolomeo for some moments before exhaling a surprised chuckle.

"It would be more accurate to say ' _under the fangs_ ' of Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal', don't you think?"

Bartolomeo laughed.

"Yep, you're totally right"

Cavendish smiled. He hadn't expected that Bartolomeo ended accepting his condition of keeping their relationship in secret, and he was feeling more grateful than he was able to show.

At that moment a couple of knocks sounded at the door so Cavendish made sure to (again) leave Bartolomeo's lap and adopt an standing position next to the bed before responding.

"Yes?"

The door opened and Suleiman entered the room.

"Captain. I have just given the letters to Rebecca-sama and she is about to leave the ship, in case you want to tell her goodbye"

"I'm going in a moment, thanks for the warning"

After Suleiman closed the door, Cavendish turned to look at Bartolomeo just in time to see him trying to abandon his bed.

"Hey hey hey, where do you think you are going?", Cavendish said, stopping Bartolomeo from standing up.

"Oi, I want to tell Becca goodbye!"

"Sorry, but the doctor's instructions were clear: not to leave the bed under any circumstances until tomorrow"

"Tsk, that man doesn't know what he is saying. I'm perfectly fine to walk arou…"

"Disobey the doctor's orders and we are not having sex in a month"

Bartolomeo stopped talking immediately. He looked at Cavendish, and when seeing the extremely serious expression that was on his face he lied on the bed again, although with a sulking expression.

"Much better", Cavendish smiled, leaning down to kiss Bartolomeo on the forehead briefly, "and now be a good boy and don't move until the doctor comes to check you again"

Bartolomeo just grunted as an answer while Cavendish approached the door with an amused expression on his face.

"Oi, Cavendish…"

"Yes?", the pirate said, turning around to look at Bartolomeo.

"I'm pretty sure about the answer but just in case: if we are together, does that mean that we aren't allowed to be with other persons?"

Cavendish blinked once, slowly.

"Well, you can be, but if I discover it I will turn into Hakuba to tear your dick off"

" _Ouch_!", Bartolomeo said, settling his hand over his crotch, "jeez, you didn't have to be so graphic!"

"I just wanted to be sure that you understood it", Cavendish replied before adopting a casual tone, "oh, and if you are asking because you are worried that I cheat on you with one of my multiple fans…"

It was Bartolomeo's turn to blush lightly.

"I-I wasn't asking for that reason…"

"That won't happen", Cavendish affirmed, this time with a serious tone, "I may keep flirting a little with them, and obviously I'll keep being polite and charming with them, but that's all"

Bartolomeo tried to keep his face imperturbable but for the way Cavendish smiled he deduced that Cavendish had noticed the relief that had invaded him after hearing his answer.

"You better", Bartolomeo smiled widely and pointed at one of his sharp teeth, "because these little fangs are deadly depending on where I decided bite…"

"And I was the graphic one?", Cavendish exclaimed, causing Bartolomeo to laugh.

"By the way, if you are going to see Becca remember to tell her not to say anything about us"

Cavendish nodded, trying not to blush because Bartolomeo's last sentence had sounded weird but somewhat romantic.

"I don't think she tells anyone but just in case I will warn her", Cavendish opened the door, "and now sleep. I'll see you again when the doctor comes"

"Roger, babe", Bartolomeo laughed when seeing Cavendish's half-close his eyes at him when hearing the appellative, "it's a joke. I'll just call you that when we are alone"

Cavendish rolled his eyes with patience but there was a smile almost as wide as Bartolomeo's one when he finally closed the door behind him.

* * *

 **And finally they are together :D The rating of the fic will finally change in the last chapter, just saying :P**

 **Hope you have liked this one and don't hesitate in telling me what you think ^^**


	10. Chapter 10

**After finally recovering, Bartolomeo and Cavendish spend some moments of intimacy at Bartolomeo's bedroom.**

 **or**

 **In two words: Sexy time :D**

 _ **Note: The rating of the fic has changed from T to M , **_just in case someone hasn't realized it :P

* * *

"Ooooh! I have the same scar that Zoro-senpai! I'm so happy!~"

While Cavendish snapped a hand against his forehead in a gesture of eternal patience, Rebecca was having serious difficulties in suppressing her laughter when seeing Bartolomeo look at himself in the mirror with an overly enthusiastic expression on his face.

Two days had passed since the day of the third mission and both pirates and Rebecca had barely finished having dinner when the doctor came to check Bartolomeo out. The man decided then that Bartolomeo was fine enough to finally remove the bandage of his chest, thing that had been a great mistake from Cavendish's point of view because the diagonal wound that Hakuba had inflicted Bartolomeo was slightly - _just slightly_ \- similar to the one Roronoa Zoro had on his chest, and the result was that now Bartolomeo was about to cry out of happiness because of that similitude.

"But damn, Cavendish, you could have do it better the angle! Zoro-senpai's wound is a little more inclined to the lef… _OUCH_! Hey, why have you hit me?!"

"Are you really asking me why?!", Cavendish exclaimed with exasperation while Bartolomeo rubbed the back of his head in the place the blond pirate had hit him, "you were about to die because of that wound, remember? So stop feeling so damn happy for having it, you idiot!"

"But it's really cool! Right, Becca?!"

Bartolomeo turned to look at the girl, who simply smiled at him with a light apologetic look.

"Yes, Bartolomeo, it's true that the wound is similar to Zoro-san's one but Cavendish was really worried when you received it. In fact, when he called me to tell me that you have been hurt he sounded about to cr…"

"A-Anyway, what I mean is that you shouldn't feel happy for such a stupid reason", Cavendish continued bright red while Bartolomeo stared at him, "besides, the doctor has already said that the scar would eventually disappear so…"

Cavendish gasped with surprise when Bartolomeo grabbed him by the back of his neck to kiss him brusquely in a clear attempt to apologize.

"O-Oi, what the hell are you doing?! We aren't alone!", Cavendish exclaimed, signaling at Rebecca who was looking at them slightly red but smiling widely.

"Come on, Cabbage: Becca knows it already"

"Yes, but still if you aren't careful you will eventually kiss me when someone is around!"

Rebecca giggled when Bartolomeo rolled his eyes with resignation.

"You are so cute together", she joined her hands in front of her chest, "I knew that you would end making a good couple"

"You mean a _weird_ couple", Cavendish rectified, but when Bartolomeo enclosed and arm around his shoulders he didn't made any attempt to push him away.

"Well, that as well but mainly cute", Rebecca insisted teasingly before adopting a more serious tone, "and regarding the job… are you sure that you just want to accept one payment instead of the two that you deserve for having recovered the last two letters?"

Bartolomeo and Cavendish nodded at the same time.

"Yes, we are sure", Cavendish said with a smile, "keep the rest to the restoration of Dressrosa"

"Or you can consider it as a bribe not to say anything about the Pirate Prince having fallen for the Cannibal"

Rebecca laughed while Cavendish half-closed his eyes at Bartolomeo. He was about to resume their previous discussion about who had fallen for the other one first but Rebecca talked without giving him time to do so.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything", Rebecca smiled a little sadly, "although it's a pity that you have to hide it from the rest"

Cavendish felt a pang of guiltiness when hearing the girl say that but to his surprise Bartolomeo answered immediately.

"Yeah, but it will be really funny to use the reunions of the Luffy-senpai Alliance as an excuse to meet and fuc…"

" _BARTOLOMEO!_ "

"What? Don't tell me that it's not a good plan!"

"It's not that! For goodness sake, watch your language in front of Rebecca!"

"Oh, don't worry about that", Rebecca said reassuringly waving her hand, "during my time as a gladiator I got pretty used to that kind of language and it doesn't bother me at all"

"Hah! See?!"

Cavendish exhaled a long resigned sigh while Bartolomeo smiled triumphantly. At that moment a knock sounded at the door and Suleiman entered just when Bartolomeo had removed his arm from Cavendish's shoulders.

"Captain, the Barto Club has just sent us a…well, a message. They are arriving at Dressrosa port"

"Wow, they have been fast!", Bartolomeo exclaimed with a happy tone, "and what have they said?"

"Umh…", Suleiman cleared his throat, "well, they have said something like: ' _ANIKIIIII! ARE YOU THERE WITH CABBAGE? WE ARE ARRIVING AT DRESSROSA TO TAKE YOU HOME!_ '. Or that's what we've been able to understand"

"Wait…", Cavendish turned slowly to glare at Bartolomeo, "your crew calls me Cabbage as well?"

Bartolomeo laughed nervously.

"O-Okay, maybe they heard me call you that a couple of times. I'll try to fix that when we meet them"

Suleiman raised a surprised eyebrow.

"We?"

Cavendish insulted himself internally. Shit, he knew that he had forgotten to tell Suleiman something…

"Oh, Cavendish is coming with me", Bartolomeo said as if it was the most natural thing to do, "we have several things to _discuss_ "

Rebecca exhaled a soft cough that it was an obvious attempt to hide a chuckle while Cavendish made a great effort to keep his face imperturbable because of the innuendo that Bartolomeo had added - Cavendish didn't know if on purpose or not - to the last word.

Damn, it was true that he had eventually agreed to spend that night at Bartolomeo's ship to...well, it was evident to _what_ , but still the idiot could have answered in a less suspicious way!

"Yes, there are some matters regarding the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and the job that Rebecca asked us to do that require our attention"

Cavendish was proud of himself when managing to answer with a completely professional and not-at-all nervous tone.

"I see", Suleiman said with certain confusion, "and will the reunion last much?"

"All night. We have to discuss everything _thoroughly_ "

Despite the beat that his heart missed, Cavendish managed to somehow keep his expression with an acceptable level of imperturbability when hearing Bartolomeo's answer. Rebecca, on the contrary, was suffering a rather suspicious coughing attack that was making her shoulder tremble.

"Yes, I suppose that I won't come back until tomorrow since it's the Barto Club tradition to go for a drink after every successful reunion, right Bartolomeo?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish in silence for several seconds but at the end he nodded.

"Yep, that's the Barto Club tradition. But don't worry, Sulei, we will make sure that your Captain doesn't drink too much not to do anything too crazy"

While Cavendish suppressed the impulse of glaring at Bartolomeo, Suleiman simple nodded, still looking a little confused.

"Alright then. I'll answer the Barto Club message in that case"

After saying that Suleiman abandoned the room, and the door had barely closed when Cavendish turned towards Bartolomeo to grab him by the collar of the coat.

"You bastard…"

"What? I think that he has bought the excuse", Bartolomeo replied, smiling widely.

"Yes, but the next time that you answer with double meanings I'll kill you…and Rebecca, please, could you support me on this instead of laughing?"

"S-Sorry", the girl said, clearing her throat and trying to suppress her laughter, "Cavendish is right, Bartolomeo. You should be more careful if you don't want to be discovered, even if you are right when saying that tonight reunion could end being more _extenuating_ than it should…"

Cavendish closed his eyes with mortification when Rebecca and Bartolomeo burst out laughing after hearing the girl's words.

"Bro fist, Becca. That has been awesome"

Rebecca bumped her first against Bartolomeo's one still laughing before settling a hand over Cavendish's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Cavendish", the girls said with an apologetic smile, "I've been unable to resist"

And certainly, after seeing the girl laughing so happily Cavendish couldn't help to eventually show a hint of a smile, because even if he was pretending to feel outraged deep inside he wasn't feeling as bothered as he should.

"Well, I should be going", Rebecca surprised the pirates with a collective hug, "again, thank you so much for everything. I hope to see you again soon"

"It's been really nice to work with you", Cavendish grabbed Rebecca's hand an deposited a soft kiss on the back of her hand, in part because he used to say goodbye to the ladies that way and in part because he enjoyed bothering Bartolomeo with that act.

"Yeah, it's been kind of funny, so call us whenever you need help", Bartolomeo ruffled Rebecca's hair, causing the girl to let out an amused laugh.

"' _Us_ '? I see that you speak already like a couple…"

"Rebecca…"

The girl chuckled again and with a wink she finally left. After that, Cavendish talked with his men and left them some indications to meet the next day at the opposite side of Dressrosa port, since their next stop (an island with a potential new rookie that Cavendish wanted to meet to see if he supposed a threat to his fame) would require them to navigate in that direction.

By when Cavendish finished talking with his crew the Barto Club had already arrived at the port, so both pirates went there directly. Fortunately, Bartolomeo's crew was way dumber than the Beautiful Pirates (at least under Cavendish's point of view), so when Bartolomeo simply asked his men to spend the whole night drinking and celebrating the success of the mission while he and Cavendish discussed really important captain matters (yes, Bartolomeo called them that way) in the ship his men didn't protest and immediately obeyed, leaving Cavendish and Bartolomeo completely alone.

"That was easier than I thought", Cavendish commented somewhat impressed.

"Yeah, it's a luck that Gambia isn't here now", Bartolomeo said, guiding Cavendish inside the ship, "it would have been more difficult to convince him"

Some moments later they were in Bartolomeo's bedroom, and Cavendish was grateful to see that, unlike the exterior of the ship, the room was pretty normal (although extremely untidy) with the only exception of the whole wall covered with the reward posters of the Straw Hats. Well, much better. He had been afraid of lying on the bed and discovering that the ceiling was going to be covered with Straw Hats photos as well or something like that.

Cavendish gulped discreetly, feeling suddenly nervous. Obviously it wasn't the first time that he entered someone's bedroom with a purpose quite different from sleeping, but it was the first time that he was at a loss about how to act. How should he approach the matter with Bartolomeo? Maybe he had to get on with it without preambles. Or, on the contrary, maybe it was better if he waited until the mood was more suitable to…

"Hey, Cavanedish, look at this!", Cavendish jumped when suddenly Bartolomeo ran towards 'the wall covered in posters, "isn't it awesome?! Now I even have the Straw Hats' autographs! Well, some of them are still missing but Luffy-senpai promised me that the rest of his crew will send them to me!"

While Bartolomeo kept rambling enthusiastically Cavendish couldn't help to smile while removing his cape, his previous nervousness vanished now that he had just remembered that with Bartolomeo he didn't have to worry about appearances. He could just follow the flow, and that's what he was going to do then.

"Yes, you have a pretty nice collection", Cavendish conceded, approaching Bartolomeo slowly, "although I think that the most important pirate of all is still missing"

Bartolomeo stared at Cavendish with his eyes opened wide.

"What?! That can't be!", Bartolomeo looked at the wall again and began to count the posters with his fingers, "I've counted the posters over and over again so it's impossible that a member of the Straw Hats is missi…"

Cavendish grabbed Bartolomeo by the front of his coat and forced Bartolomeo's mouth against his, the action making the pirate groan with surprise.

"I was talking about me, you idiot"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh before enclosing his arms around Cavendish waist.

"Well, since now you are part of the Luffy-senpai Alliance maybe I could add you as well", Bartolomeo interrupted himself and made a grimace, "but then that means that I would have to add the other members of the Alliance as well and…"

At that moment Cavendish licked Bartolomeo's earlobe purposely slow, causing Bartolomeo to let out a shaky inhale.

"Enough talking of the Straw Hats for now", Cavendish purred in his ear, making Bartolomeo shiver, "I thought that you wanted to _discuss_ some matters with me _thoroughly_ …"

Cavendish nipped Bartolomeo's earlobe this time with a purposely teasing feathery contact, causing Bartolomeo to let out a low 'fuck' before finally initiating a wild kiss that made Cavendish moan this time. Well, it seemed that Bartolomeo's attention was finally focused just on him, Cavendish thought with satisfaction. He didn't mind when Bartolomeo talked about his admiration for Luffy, not anymore, but he was in that bedroom with a purpose and at that moment he was interested in other kind of _conversation_ , and for the way Bartolomeo was beginning to push him back towards the bed it seemed that the pirate agreed on that.

Both pirates kept sharing hard kisses until Cavendish felt the back of his knees hit the bed. Bartolomeo pushed Cavendish down on the mattress rather unceremoniously, making the blond pirate end facing up. Cavendish was about to protest for Bartolomeo's lack of finesse but at that moment Bartolomeo knelt between his legs and removed his coat with a smooth movement. The sigh of Bartolomeo built upper half caused Cavendish's breath hitch against his will. Damn, he had thought it before but the man surely had a hot body.

"Too many clothes on, Prince", Bartolomeo teased, attempting to reach Cavendish's shirt but the pirate snapped his hand away.

"I'll undress myself. You ripped my last shirt, remember?"

Bartolomeo snorted when hearing Cavendish's accusing tone. He began to remove his pants while Cavendish did the same with his shirt.

"That was your fault for not wanting to open it", Bartolomeo replied.

When both pirates were completely naked Cavendish had barely time to scan the rest of Bartolomeo's body because suddenly Bartolomeo leant over him and grabbed his member in his hands, making Cavendish suffer a shiver because of the unexpected contact.

" _Ah_ …! Damn, Bartolomeo, isn't there the word foreplay in your vocabulary…?", Cavendish blinked slowly when seeing Bartolomeo align his members, "please, don't tell me that you are comparing them…"

"Yep, that's what I'm doing", Bartolomeo replied with complete naturalness. He stared at Cavendish's member and his alternatively with a concentrated look for several seconds before finally looking at Cavendish with a wide smile, "okay: yours is larger but little Barto is thicker so we are even"

Cavendish frowned.

"Little Barto?", when realization washed over him Cavendish rubbed his eyes, "do you really call your dick ' _Little Barto_ '?"

"Hey, what's wrong with it? I've been calling that way since I'm little", Bartolomeo frowned when Cavendish looked at him with a ' _really?_ ' expression, "okay, how do you call yours?"

"I don't call it _anything_ because that's a really childish thing to do!"

"Hah, that means that your name is more ridiculous and you don't want to tell me"

Cavendish exhaled an exasperated grunt.

"I tell you that it's not that! I just…"

But at that moment Bartolomeo leant down again to kiss Cavendish, so this one decided that they could discuss the name of Bartolomeo's member later. Right then, Cavendish was busier enclosing his hands around Bartolomeo's firm back while the green-haired pirate seemed clearly disposed to choke him with his tongue.

"Damn it, Bartolomeo, let me breath!", Cavendish gasped when the long kiss finished, and he was in part admired to see that Bartolomeo didn't look breathless at all.

"Heh, maybe at the end you aren't as a good kisser as I thought", Bartolomeo joked, causing Cavendish to huff.

"Sorry, but not-mermen people need something called 'air', you know?"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh, not having expecting that ironic comment.

"Good excuse, Cavendish, but you are still really easy to leave breathless. And…", Bartolomeo smirked widely, "…I'm going to prove it to you"

Cavendish hadn't time to ask how Bartolomeo was going to prove that. In fact, Cavendish immediately obtained the answer to his unasked question when Bartolomeo lowered his body until being facing Cavendish's member and without wasting any second longer he rolled his long tongue around the tip of Cavendish's member.

Cavendish moaned loudly, taken by surprise for the unexpected hit of pleasure that shook him. He looked down, and when seeing the way Bartolomeo was staring up at him hungrily while beginning to lick up and down his shaft, Cavendish felt incredibly excited. Damn, definitely the man didn't know what the world 'foreplay' meant but Cavendish found himself not caring about it at all at that moment.

"Careful with your teeth", Cavendish warned with a voice that came a little strained for the effort not to moan when feeling Bartolomeo wet muscle playing around his member with way more expertise that he had expected.

Bartolomeo just grunted as an answer before finally engulfing Cavendish's member. It was his first blowjob and Bartolomeo knew that getting carried away wasn't the wisest option but screw that. Cavendish's face showed that he wasn't doing it half-bad so Bartolomeo dared to risk and aimed to take Cavendish's whole large dick in his mouth. Bartolomeo immediately knew that it had been a good idea.

Cavendish let out a loud satisfied groan when his cock practically touched the back of Bartolomeo's throat. Cavendish felt his legs tremble lightly on either side of Bartolomeo's head, as if they were slowly turning into jelly. He reached down and was about to put a hand over Bartolomeo's head but at last moment he decided to grab the mattress instead.

However, the gesture didn't go unnoticed by Bartolomeo, who grabbed Cavendish's hand and settled it over his head.

"Don't be afraid of grabbing it with force", Bartolomeo said with a smirk, leaving momentarily Cavendish's hard member, "I kind of like it rough"

Cavendish was about to say that he already knew that but at that moment Bartolomeo engulfed his member again, so Cavendish simply tangled his hands on Bartolomeo's hair with more harshness that he had intended when the man began to bob his head up and down with a rough rapid rhythm.

"O-Oh _god_ …"

Cavendish gripped Bartolomeo's hair with force, causing the pirate to let out an excited grunt while grabbing Cavendish's hips with more force. Cavendish bit his bottom lip, observing the way his member disappeared in Bartolomeo's too warm mouth and enjoying the vibrations that Bartolomeo's groans caused around his member when he applied more pressure to the pirate's green hair.

And damn, even if it was not the first time that Cavendish received oral pleasure it _did_ was the first time that he felt so close to coming after just a couple of minutes. Damn, who was going to tell Cavendish that Bartolomeo's rude and intense nature was going to turn him on much more than the delicate ladies with whom Cavendish had been sleeping until then?

"O-Oi …", Cavendish breathed after some moments, pulling the other pirate's head back, " Bartolomeo, stop"

"Already about to come?", Bartolomeo teased with a shit eating grin on his face, "how little stamina, Cavendish, maybe your age is beginning to sho…"

Suddenly, Bartolomeo found himself with his back against the mattress and Cavendish towering over him with, pinning him on the bed with his arms and legs on either side of his head and hips respectively.

Bartolomeo gulped loudly with arousal, feeling his member become just a little harder. Definitely a dominant Cavendish wasn't bad at all, and for the way Cavendish was smirking at him it seemed that the pirate had guessed what Bartolomeo was just thinking.

"It's my turn to look at you from above", Cavendish said with a purposely superior tone before lowering down to kiss Bartolomeo hard and needy.

While Cavendish was busy ravaging his mouth like a damn pro Bartolomeo didn't waste any time in placing his hands on Cavendish's bare ass. Bartolomeo was about to groan when feeling the soft but firm flesh under his fingers. That idiot surely had a good ass. Bartolomeo had been wanting to touch it since that day when Cavendish had accidentally showed it to him and finally he was able to. And yeah, he was a pervert and was proud of it.

Cavendish exhaled a surprised gasp when Bartolomeo began to massage his buttocks shamelessly. He was about to complain for being groped so embarrassingly but since his hands have been roaming over Bartolomeo's built chest for a while now he decided that it would be a little hypocrite to protest. Besides, who was he kidding: he loved how much Bartolomeo seemed to like his body and Bartolomeo's hands on him felt rather nice despite the rudeness of his movements.

"By the way", Cavendish asked, suddenly remembering something quite important, "do you have lube?"

Bartolomeo's expression was all the answer Cavendish needed.

"I should have imagined it"

"Oi, I haven't had time to buy it, okay?", Bartolomeo defended himself when hearing Cavendish's patient tone, "besides, you were always shouting at me the moment I tried to leave the bed so…"

Bartolomeo's words died on his throat when with a calculated calm movement Cavendish began to lick his own fingers, coating them with saliva without stopping looking at Bartolomeo for even one second.

"Shit…", Bartolomeo breathed in a raspy tone, "shit, you sure know how to look sexy, you bastard"

Cavendish chuckled, visibly pleased.

"I am always sexy, Bartolomeo", he said with a purposely petulant voice before reaching back with his hand, "and now be still while I get myself prepared"

"Need help with it?"

Cavendish shook his head negatively, introducing two of his fingers inside. He had prepared himself rather well while showering that morning, anticipating that night, but after seeing Bartolomeo's thick member he decided that he had to prepare himself a little more.

Meanwhile, Bartolomeo tried to obey Cavendish but it was difficult to remain still without doing anything when Cavendish looked so sexy over him, looking at him from above through half-lidded eyes and exhaling soft whimpers every time that his fingers reached a sensitive spot. So Bartolomeo decided to push his luck and reached up with his hand to tentatively try to push one of his fingers inside Cavendish.

Cavendish's mouth fell opened in a silent gasp when feeling Bartolomeo's finger settling against his entrance. Cavendish let his head fall slightly backwards, a wave of arousal hitting him when the new digit began to prove deeper without finding any resistance, and at the end Cavendish decided to let Bartolomeo take care of the whole preparation because damn, that idiot's fingers felt different but so much better than his own.

"Shit", Bartolomeo muttered in a ragged voice when Cavendish began to ride his fingers, settling his hands on Bartolomeo's abs as a support while sensually rocking his hips up and down.

Bartolomeo continued moving and spreading his fingers inside Cavendish's more and more loosened ass for several seconds until incorporating to be sitting in the bed with his back against the headboard. In that position Cavendish's chest was just in front of him so Bartolomeo didn't waste that opportunity to use his long tongue to circle one of Cavendish's pink nipples without stopping preparing the pirate, making sure not to hurt him in the chest with his fangs.

Cavendish bit his bottom lip again not to moan for the sudden wet contact. Damn, definitely Bartolomeo was good with his mouth. Cavendish had never felt anything particular when having his nipples played but now he could feel them hardening under Bartolomeo's eager tongue, although maybe the way Bartolomeo was practically fucking him with his fingers explained why he was way more sensitive than usual.

"E-Enough", Cavendish gasped at some point, forcing Bartolomeo's mouth out from his chest. Shit, it was embarrassing that he had felt about to come just from Bartolomeo's fingers _and_ tongue. Thank goodness that Bartolomeo hadn't noticed it.

"Yeah, enough", Bartolomeo agreed, "or I'm going to shoot my load before even starting"

Cavendish rolled his eyes when hearing Bartolomeo's crude comment.

"Well, then I hope that you can keep your load inside a little more because since we don't have any lube…", while talking Cavendish reached back with his hands to push his hair up in a high ponytail, "we just can do one thing about it"

"Wow, wait there", Bartolomeo's eyes opened wide when seeing Cavendish situate between his legs with his head just over his crotch, "are you going to suck me too?"

Cavendish raised an eyebrow.

"No, I have my face just over your dick because I want to take a better look at it"

Bartolomeo frowned when hearing the sarcastic answer.

"Sorry, but considering how picky you are I thought that you were going to see the idea disgusting"

Cavendish clicked his tongue.

"Bartolomeo, I don't want to boast but it's not the first time that I orally please someone. And so just you know I've been said that I'm pretty good at it so…"

"I don't need to know how many chicks you've fucked with your mouth so just get on with it"

Cavendish was about to hit Bartolomeo for being so rude but when seeing the pirate's tension he understood.

" _Oh_?", Cavendish grinned with amusement, "so you are the jealous type"

"I'm not jealous!", Bartolomeo snapped immediately, "I simply don't want to hear how you…"

Bartolomeo's sentence finished with a grunt when without preamble Cavendish took him in his mouth in one go. The overwhelming wetness of Cavendish's cavity around his member made Bartolomeo want to close his eyes to lose himself into that almost forgotten sensation but he forced himself to keep them opened to see Cavendish's handsome and concentrated expression while moving his head up and down with a steady rhythm.

" _Shit_ …", Bartolomeo's hand automatically flied to grab Cavendish's head, "holy shit…"

"Don't push my head down or I'll bite you", Cavendish warned, "although maybe that would be something of your liking"

Bartolomeo laughed and shook his head.

"Nah, my hair is one thing, but with little Barto I prefer you to be carefu- _ungh_!"

Bartolomeo groaned again through parted lips when Cavedish resumed his task in hand (or in that case, in mouth) and dove down to swallow Bartolomeo's shaft. Bartolomeo unconsciously gripped Cavendish's head with more force when the pirate began to use his tongue, circling it around languidly around his hard member, but Bartolomeo suppressed the impulse to push Cavendish down to urge him to go faster. He was feeling too damn good at that moment and like hell if he was to ruin it stupidly by disobeying Cavendish's order.

Meanwhile, Cavendish was trying his best not to seem too eager while sucking Bartolomeo but the truth was that he was feeling pretty aroused when seeing Bartolomeo enjoying the whole thing so openly. He would have never guessed that the pirate was going to be so vocal but considering how loud Bartolomeo was in life Cavendish should have guessed that he was going to be the same way in bed. Not that he minded. The way Bartolomeo was exhaling low curses and phrases of the type ' _damnCavendishdamnyourmouthisawesome'_ were pumping Cavendish's ego more than all the praises that he had received during his previous sexual encounters.

"Shit…", Bartolomeo said in a warning tone after some moments, suddenly feeling his peak approaching way too fast, "shit shit shit, _Cavendish_ …"

The named suddenly felt his head being raised. Cavendish looked at Bartolomeo and found this one holding his breath with a panic expression on his face.

"Damn, that's been close", Bartolomeo exhaled in relief after some seconds, when managing to hold back his almost orgasm, "damn Cabbage, you almost make me finish"

Despite Bartolomeo had used that appellative that he detested it wasn't enough to remove the gigantic satisfied expression that Cavendish had on his face.

"First, it's not _my_ fault that you have so little resistance. And second, it's _your_ fault for not having brought lube"

Bartolomeo snorted and offered Cavendish a mischievous smirk that the blond pirate considered unexpectedly sexy at that moment.

"Please, Cavendish, at least think in a good excuse to hide the fact that you were really hungry for my cock… _ouch_!"

"You brute, don't be so vulgar!"

Cavendish's outraged reproach just made Bartolomeo laugh despite the hit that he had just received on his head.

"I can try to say it with more elegance but the result won't change"

Cavendish rolled his eyes but didn't say anything because Bartolomeo wasn't entirely wrong. To lubricate Bartolomeo's member two-minutes of giving head weren't necessary, but like hell if Cavendish was going to admit that he had enjoyed doing that!

"So…", Bartolomeo stared at Cavendish with an anticipation that he didn't bother to hide, "how are we doing this?"

After thinking for a moment Cavendish lied on the bed facing up. He opened his legs slowly, allowing himself to show off a little, and he smirked when the action made Bartolomeo gulp. Definitely the pirate was an opened book. His want for him was almost palpable.

"Are you expecting an invitation, Barto?"

Bartolomeo focused again and snorted, but he was smirking when situating between Cavendish's parted legs.

"You sure are a big-headed bastard", Bartolomeo leant down to kiss Cavendish roughly, taking the pirate by surprise and making him gasp, "I'm going to remove that cocky expression from your pretty face"

Cavendish clicked his tongue, but he still was smiling while placing his hands on Bartolomeo's shoulders.

"We'll see about that. But enough talk for now. After all…", Cavendish wrapped his legs around Bartolomeo's waist, "…I thought that you wanted to _fuck_ me"

Bartolomeo felt a shiver down his spine when hearing that word coming from Cavendish's mouth. Damn, that bastard definitely knew how to stir him up.

"Kay, here I go"

After aligning his member against Cavendish's entrance Bartolomeo placed both of his arms extended on either side of Cavendish's head. He waited for the pirate under him to give him a quick nod before beginning to push inside.

Bartolomeo couldn't help to curse when Cavendish's entrance closed around his member. _Shit_. Cavendish was so tight. It had been a while since the last time Bartolomeo had felt so close to coming just for entering someone.

Cavendish, on the other hand, was making a gigantic effort not to push Bartolomeo away, because damn, it _hurt_ more than he had expected and even if Bartolomeo was going slowly Cavendish could feel his ass burning, and not precisely in a pleasant way. But Cavendish knew (hoped) that it was to eventually feel good so he forced himself to remain relaxed, or all the relaxed he could be while feeling Bartolomeo's cock painfully stretching him.

However, when Bartolomeo was finally seated inside him and Cavendish noticed that the pirate had the intention of beginning to move immediately, he prevented him from doing so by grabbing Bartolomeo's broad shoulders with force.

"Move and I'll kill you", Cavendish hissed in a threatening tone.

"Roger", Bartolomeo exhaled, unable to hide the bliss in his voice despite he didn't like the pained grimace that Cavendish had on his face at that moment.

Cavendish began to breathe deeply, trying to get used to the intrusion, but when almost half-a-minute had passed and the pain was barely fading away he began to get impatient.

"Damn, why the hell do you call your dick little Barto?", Cavendish commented in an accusing tone, "Your member is so thick that is almost tearing me appa…o-oi, don't get _even bigger_ you idiot!"

"Then stop saying such things!", Cavendish was about to keep protesting but he ended exhaling a soft gasp when Bartolomeo reached down with one hand and began to masturbate his member, "and damn it, try to relax or I'll be stuck inside you forever"

Cavendish tried to protest again but Bartolomeo's warm hand around his now re-awakened member felt rather good, and helped him to relax just enough so that the pain was at least bearable.

"Okay, you can move now but do it slowly or I'll really kill you"

Bartolomeo was going to make a joke about Cavendish insisting too much in the killing part but for the way Cavendish's nails were digging on his skin Bartolomeo deduced that it was not the best time for jokes, so for once he silently complied and initiated a slow pace.

Cavendish breathed deeply, forcing himself to relax while Bartolomeo moved inside him, and gradually a more pleasant sensation began to accompany the pain that he was still feeling. Besides, the odd but not unpleasant filling sensation of having Bartolomeo's dick inside and the unfamiliar feeling of being opened and stretched with something so hot and thick were making a not-bad-at-all heat begin to curl in the pit of his stomach.

Meanwhile, Bartolomeo was internally praising himself for his self-control because damn if he didn't want to fuck Cavendish properly. He wasn't used to take things with such calm. He had paid for most part of his sexual experiences because the girls that had wanted to do something with him on his own had always ran away before reaching third base, feeling a little disturbed when seeing his Straw-Hat style bedroom, so Bartolomeo's sexual experiences had tended to be wild and somewhat rushed. And damn, Bartolomeo wanted to lose control. He wanted to see Cavendish under him losing his composure and crying his name. And damn, he knew that he had to be patient for that to happen but it was being _really_ difficult.

After a rather long minute Cavendish finally stopped trying to break Bartolomeo's skin and his expression relaxed slightly. When noticing that, Bartolomeo dared to increment just a little his pace, and when Cavendish let out a soft gasp while finally beginning to meet his until then swallow thrusts Bartolomeo couldn't help to smirk.

"Good?", Bartolomeo asked, even if he already knew the answer for the whines that Cavendish was letting out.

"Yes", Cavendish exhaled, gripping Bartolomeo's forearms extended on either side of his head, "but faster"

Bartolomeo was happy to oblige. He added not just speed but also force to his slams, pulling out his member almost completely before entering Cavendish again. The change of pace made Cavendish's until now soft whimpers turn into moans, and before even realizing he was pressing his heels against Bartolomeo's ass, encouraging the pirate to go harder now that the pain was finally gone. Damn, who was going to tell him some months ago that sex with a man, with Bartolomeo, was going to feel so good?

"Damn…", Bartolomeo grunted without stopping rolling his hips, unable to remain quiet now that Cavendish's wet and warm walls were squeezing his member so right, "damn, Cavendish, you feel awesome"

Cavendish smiled when hearing Bartolomeo's heated words. He settled a hand on the back of Bartolomeo's head and grabbed a fistful of his hair to kiss the pirate again, roughly. Bartolomeo groaned appreciatively. His thick member throbbed inside Cavendish, who moaned as well as a result but he managed to put a triumphant smirk on his face before speaking with a more breathless voice that he would have liked.

"You've stopped moving, Barto…", Cavendish teased, "tired already?"

Cavendish licked purposely slow one of Bartolomeo's fangs. As he had expected the action made Bartolomeo suffer a shiver in all his powerful body. It seemed that his teeth were really sensitive and Cavendish made sure to take good note of that for future intercourses.

"Bastard", Bartolomeo snarled, even if his feverish eyes were showing how much had just excited him, "you've just asked for it"

Cavendish was about to add another teasing comment such as ' _it was time already_ ' but then Bartolomeo began to move again but with a more vigorous rhythm than before. It hadn't been Bartolomeo's intention but the light change of angle of his movements made his member begin to brush against Cavendish's prostrate, making the blond pirate arch his body off the bed while moaning loudly when experimenting the most intense pleasure that he had felt while having sex with someone.

" _Fuck._ Yes…", Cavendish panted while beginning to push back against Bartolomeo demandingly, his fingers still tangled in the pirate's green locks, "holy shit _yes_. _There_!"

"Wow, such a filthy mouth you have, Cavendish", Bartolomeo grinned, pistoning his hips to keep ramming against that bundle of nerves that was making Cavendish gradually become a complete mess, "you're not so polite while being fucked, hah?"

"Shut up and _don't stop_ ", Cavendish ordered, hooking an arm around Bartolomeo's neck to kiss him again, in part because he wanted to make Bartolomeo stop saying such embarrassing but true things and in part because he just wanted to feel that idiot's lips against his own.

"Bossy", Bartolomeo teased between open-mouthed dirty kisses but he complied. He kept fucking Cavendish relentlessly, burying in him to the hilt the way Cavendish was urging him to with every desperate moan. The bed under them began to creak, protesting for the abuse, but neither of the pirates cared about it. They were busy rocking their bodies together, losing themselves in the sounds of their sweated skin connecting with passion and the moans and gasps of pleasure that escaped from their half-parted mouths.

" _Nngh_ …damn…", Cavendish slid one of his hands between their bodies and began to stroke his leaking member fast, trying to match Bartolomeo's pace.

"Already at your limit?", Bartolomeo breathed against Cavendish's lips, even if he wasn't in better condition. His more and more erratic movements were a proof of it and Cavendish noticed it because he smirked.

"Look who is talking", he replied back before kissing Bartolomeo again, grabbing the pirate's bottom lip between his teeth to push him towards the edge even more.

Bartolomeo grunted with arousal and grabbed Cavendish's hip with one hand, changing his pace to one of shorter but harder and faster thrusts that made Cavendish's toes curl in pleasure. He knew that there was going to be a brush on the place where Bartolomeo was gripping him but at that moment he couldn't care less. To achieve that long awaited orgasm had priority over everything else for now, so Cavendish incremented the speed of his hand and as he had been fearing just half-a-dozen of strokes were enough to make him finish between both of his stomachs.

The intensity of Cavendish's orgasm made his ass clench tightly around Bartolomeo's member, causing the pirate to reach his peak sooner than he would have liked. Bartolomeo finished inside Cavendish with a ragged groan before practically collapsing over the blond pirate, breathing heavily. It was the first time that he had fucked someone without holding back one bit and god, he felt as if he was in a fucking heaven.

"Have you come inside?", Cavendish asked then with a breathless voice, obtaining just a grunt as an answer, "gross"

"Sorry, I didn't have time to pull out", Bartolomeo replied lazily, but Cavendish could hear the content of Bartolomeo's voice so he really doubted his words.

Just when Cavendish was going to protest for Bartolomeo's weight the pirate finally rolled out of him, ending facing up on the bed next to him. There was a strong smell of sex invading the room but both pirates were busy going down from their high and barely noticed it.

"Shit. That was…Wow", Bartolomeo exhaled after a few seconds, settling the back of his hand over his sweaty forehead.

Cavendish chuckled tiredly and gave a shaky nod.

"Yes, but next time I'll be in charge"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh.

"Why? Haven't you liked it?"

Cavendish half-closed his eyes at Bartolomeo when hearing his too casual tone.

"If you are hoping to be praised you can just forget it"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"I don't need your praise. Hearing you moan my name like that has been mooore than enough"

"What?! I haven't moaned _your name_!"

"Maybe not, but you will the next time"

Cavendish rolled his eyes but he had to suppress a smile when hearing Bartolomeo's overconfident tone. He tried to incorporate but a piercing pain assaulted his lower back.

"Oi, you okay?", Bartolomeo asked when hearing Cavendish let out a pained gasp.

"No, genius, how am I going to be okay after you pounded into me so brutally?"

Bartolomeo smiled mischievously.

"A minute ago you weren't complaining", he stood up from the bed ignoring Cavendish's glare, "I'll bring something to clean us so don't move"

Cavendish was going to retort that he _couldn't_ move but Bartolomeo had already disappeared towards the bathroom. Cavendish made sure that Bartolomeo couldn't hear him before letting out a long satisfied sigh. Damn, certainly it had been a good sex. A _great_ sex. Probably one of the best he had experienced but he better not say it if he didn't want that idiot to feel too proud.

"I'm back", Bartolomeo reappeared in the room with a wet towel in his hands, "can you do it yourself or you need help down there?"

Cavendish's only answer to Bartolomeo's teasing comment was to grab the towel that Bartolomeo was handling him before beginning to clean himself.

Bartolomeo lied on the bed again, this time facing to one of his sides while waiting for Cavendish to finish cleaning.

"Damn", Cavendish exhaled, dropping the used towel into the floor, "if tomorrow I can't walk I'll kill you"

"You know, this is the third time that you threaten me to death", Bartolomeo joked, "at the end maybe it's been a mistake to be together"

Cavendish chuckled and with a little effort he managed to turn his body to the side to be facing Bartolomeo.

"Don't worry, you're pretty acceptable in bed so I won't kill your for now"

Bartolomeo snorted when hearing Cavendish's ironic answer.

"Well, at least now I know that Hakuba won't appear at night, since you said that he hasn't ever attacked your multiple sleeping partners…oi, why are you about to laugh?"

"Definitely you are the jealous type"

It was Bartolomeo's turn to glare at Cavendish when hearing his amused tone.

"I'm not jealous, you geezer, but I'd just prefer that no one else than me had seen you looking so damn sexy"

Against his will Cavendish blushed lightly. Probably Bartolomeo didn't know it but Cavendish admired deeply his ability of being so honest.

"Well, first of all, that's exactly what being jealous means, Bartolomeo. And second, if you feel better no one has ever seen me looking like this, since you're the first man whom I've slept with. Oh, and so just you know you will be the first man whose virginity I'll take as well"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh, but his stance looked more relaxed.

"So does that mean that neither of your groupies has managed to make you moan like I've done?"

Cavendish was about to hit Bartolomeo but he decided that pumping the idiot's ego for once wouldn't hurt.

"No, they hadn't. Of course most part of my other sexual experiences were pleasurable as well but…", Cavendish cleared his throat, "I admit that this one has been really remarkable"

Bartolomeo smiled widely.

"Cool", Bartolomeo passed an arm over Cavendish's waist, "I'll do my best so that the second round is even better than this one"

Cavendish chuckled, feeling his eyes beginning to close after so much tiring though enjoyable exercise.

"Sorry, but I think that for tonight this will be enough. Besides, your wound has just cured and it's not good that you force yourself too much"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Well, then tomorrow morning I'll let you do all the job"

When only obtaining a soft groan as an answer Bartolomeo realized that Cavendish had just fallen asleep. Bartolomeo let out an amused sigh, and used his hand to remove some strands of blond hair out of Cavendish's face…

…and then Bartolomeo almost suffered a heart attack when finding himself looking at Hakuba's face.

"Fuck!", Bartolomeo exclaimed when finding that demon's face so close to his own.

He immediately separated from Cavendish while interlacing his finger to create a barrier but Hakuba stopped him from doing so by grabbing both of his wrists and pinning them on either side of his head. Damn, if Cavendish was the one in doing that Bartolomeo would get immediately hard again but having a _naked Hakuba_ doing that instead just made him be extremely nervous instead.

"Relax", Hakuba said with a voice that sounded the same than Cavendish's one if this one was distorted, "if I had wanted to kill you I would have done it in the mine"

Bartolomeo snorted.

"Well, then thanks for just leaving me about to die, you asshole"

Hakuba made a sound similar to clicking his tongue.

"You should be grateful to this idiot. His feelings for you forced me to keep you alive. And precisely for that reason…", Hakuba approached his face even more to Bartolomeo, "…I want to make sure that you are someone worthy of having survived to my attack so how do you feel?"

Bartolomeo frowned.

"What?"

Hakuba's expression didn't change but Bartolomeo would swear that the demon was looking at him as if he was dumb.

"About Cavendish. How do you feel? Do you love him? Or do you hate him?"

Bartolomeo exhaled a nervous laugh while beginning to sweat.

"W-Well, love is a rather serious word…"

"So you hate him"

"No no no no! I mean it's true that Cavendish is a cool guy, and it's funny to hang out with him, and the sex with him is pretty awesome and all that but…i-it's just that…"

"I don't have time for your babbling", Hakuba said with a tired voice, grabbing Bartolomeo's neck with enough force to make the pirate feel threatened, "answer the question: do you love Cavendish or not?"

Bartolomeo gulped, but when seeing that Hakuba planned to increase the grip on his neck he talked rapidly.

"Okay, okay, if I had to choose between 'loving' him and 'hating' him…", Bartolomeo gulped again, feeling rather embarrassed. Shit, what he was going to say wasn't something that a proper bad pirate would say but he had to, "…IwouldchoosethatIlovehim"

Hakuba stared at Bartolomeo for several long seconds when this one ended the sentence at a frantic speed. Then, the demon exhaled something similar to huff.

"Definitely humans are really stupid coward beings, unable to say aloud what they obviously feel"

Bartolomeo exhaled a relieved sigh when Hakuba released him and stopped straddling him.

"Alright, human, you have answered more or less acceptably so I won't kill you…for now. But if you dare to hurt Cavendish in any way, physically or not…", Hakuba placed his long fingers over Bartolomeo's scar and began to caress it with a tenderness that clearly contrasted with the deathly tone that he was using, "…this wound will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you, understood?"

Bartolomeo couldn't help to shiver when Hakuba's hand kept going over his wound because it felt exactly like Cavendish's one, and Hakuba seemed to notice it because he immediately removed his hand.

"Well, I think that I'm going to retire", Hakuba announced, and Bartolomeo would swear that the demon's tone sounded just a little nervous, "remember well what I've said"

"Okay but just one thing before you disappear"

"Yes?"

"Since you share Cavendish's body, does that mean that some of Cavendish's feelings are shared by you as well? Because in that case…", Bartolomeo smiled widely, "could it be that you like me too?"

Hakuba stared at Bartolomeo for several seconds without saying anything.

"Do you want to be killed right now?"

Bartolomeo barked a laugh, because despite Hakuba's words he didn't detect any real murderous intent behind them.

"You've just said that you aren't going to kill me for now. And since you are part of Cavendish that means that being with Cavendish implies to be with you as well…", Bartolomeo got lost in his thoughts, "mmm although I'm wondering if having sex with you would count as cheating. After all you and Cavendish share the body but your personalities are different. Mmmm shit, I don't know. What do you think?"

Hakuba let out an exasperated sigh that some seconds ago would have sounded scary to Bartolomeo's ears.

"Since I'm not in the least interested in sleeping with you I don't have any opinion about it. And now I'm leaving"

Bartolomeo nodded.

"Kay. I will ask Cavendish anyways, just out of curiosity"

Hakuba shook his head in something similar to exasperation.

"Definitely Cavendish couldn't have chosen a weirder partner"

But again, Hakuba's words didn't carry any particular poison so Bartolomeo found himself waving the demon goodbye without feeling any fear.

When Cavendish's face came back to normal Bartolomeo stared at him in silence, remembering Hakuba's previous question. _Do you love him? Or do you hate him?_

Bartolomeo let out a soft sigh. Yep. What the demon had said was completely right. He was a coward. And Cavendish was also a coward. But as long as they both didn't need the other one to be brave to express what they were really feeling, they would be just fine, so after enclosing his arm around Cavendish's waist the same way he had done before Hakuba appeared, Bartolomeo closed his eyes and joined Cavendish in a rather peaceful dream.

* * *

Their wake up the next morning wasn't as romantic as a lovers' wake up should be, since Cavendish was forced to practically fly into the bathroom to hide when several loud knocks began to sound at the door and this one snapped opened to reveal a bunch of drunk pirates of Bartolomeo's crew who had decided that waking his captain was a great idea.

In fact, Bartolomeo had barely time to put his pants, shoes and coat on before he was dragged out of his bedroom and towards the kitchen, where his men were already eating something that, supposedly, was breakfast but that it looked more like a mix of all the food that had been stored until then in the fridge.

Meanwhile, Cavendish decided to enjoy a long shower. He wouldn't have minded to spend some more moments in bed with Bartolomeo, and certainly he wouldn't have minded to have a second round, but well, he was grateful that they hadn't done anything because in that case the entire Barto Club would have caught them, and even if they were pretty drunk and probably they were rather easy to convince in that state, it would have been really difficult to explain why Cavendish 'of the White Horse' and Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal' were sharing the captain's bed completely naked.

Twenty minutes later Cavendish finally appeared in the kitchen. Bartolomeo's men looked a little confused at first when seeing the pirate there but at some point the least drunk pirate remembered his captain reunion and, thankfully, no one asked more questions about Cavendish's presence.

After rejecting for hundredth time the pirates' offer to join them in the breakfast Cavendish announced that he had to come back to his own ship and Bartolomeo took that opportunity to accompany Cavendish outside, leaving his men in the kitchen eating, singing, and some of them even sleeping.

"Shit, that's been close", Bartolomeo chuckled when they were alone, "I suppose that you are not used to such a loud crew"

"No, I am not", Cavendish commented, "and much less that they enter in my bedroom without knocking"

"Hey, they don't usually do that! Just when they are drunk. Although that is pretty often"

Cavendish rolled his eyes when hearing Bartolomeo's answer but he was suppressing a smile because certainly it had been a little hilarious the way Bartolomeo had been kidnapped by his own men.

"Well…", Cavendish began both pirates were in front of the boat gangway, "…I'm leaving"

Bartolomeo nodded and smiled teasingly.

"I guess that this is the part where we should kiss and do that stuff that lovers do when they say goodbye but I imagine that it will be a little risky"

Cavendish chuckled and after hesitating he cleared his throat.

"Well, the port is rather empty right now so I suppose that there is nothing wrong with just one kis…"

Suddenly Bartolomeo dragged Cavendish towards him and kissed him fiercely, causing the blond pirate's heart beat faster.

"Damn it, you surely don't know how to hold back", Cavendish said in just a light accusing tone.

"Nope, I don't, so get used to it, Cabbage", Bartolomeo laughed when seeing Cavendish's glare, "sorry, but I have to keep calling you that if you don't want people to suspect"

"Yes, but we are alone now, you idiot, so you didn't need to call me that!"

Bartolomeo snickered while releasing Cavendish, who readjusted his hat and cape while clearing his throat in an attempt to recover from the rather mind-blowing kiss.

"So now you are going towards the East?", Bartolomeo asked. Cavendish nodded as an answer.

"Yes, I want to meet that supposedly awesome rookie. And you?"

Bartolomeo shrugged.

"I suppose that we will be around Zou for a while since Luffy-senpai is there now. And since there are some unexplored islands around there we will take a look at them so…", Bartolomeo smirked, "…when you finish with your rookie you could join us in the exploration"

Cavendish chuckled.

"Maybe I do it. And I think that it's not necessary to say it but if at some point you have any kind problem you have my number so don't hesitate in giving me a call"

Bartolomeo raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"Including if the problem is something such as: ' _Cavendish, little Barto requires your immediate attention_ '?"

Cavendish rolled his eyes with patience but he surprised Bartolomeo with a seductive smile.

"Well, in that case I expect to receive a more appetizing invitation such as: ' _Cavendish, I miss you and the way you squirm under me while I fuck you hard and good_ '"

Cavendish smirked openly when seeing the dumbfounded expression that Bartolomeo had at that moment.

"Barto, it's just me or your pants are tighter than before?"

"And do you blame me?! You bastard, if you knew how to dirty talk you could have used it last night!"

Cavendish chuckled with amusement when hearing Bartolomeo's frustrated tone.

"A good lover always keep some aces up his sleeves", Cavendish answered with a wink, making Bartolomeo snort.

"Well, then I hope you use them the next time we meet", Bartolomeo answered, crossing his arms with a smile.

Cavendish grabbed his hat and made a mocking inclination.

"Of course I will, my lady"

"Fuck off", was Bartolomeo rude answer despite he was still smiling.

Cavendish turned around to begin to climb down the gateway but after a brief moment of doubt Bartolomeo decided to speak.

"By the way, Hakuba appeared last night", Cavendish turned pale when hearing that so Bartolomeo continued talking immediately, "but don't worry, he didn't do anything. He just wanted to talk"

Cavendish frowned with confusion.

"To talk? About what?"

"Well…", Bartolomeo scratched the back of his head and adopted a casual tone, "he asked me if I loved you or if I hated you"

This time the silence that followed was more intense than the previous one. Way more intense.

"Oh…", Cavendish cleared his throat with certain nervousness, "and what did you answer?"

Bartolomeo looked at Cavendish for several seconds and, eventually, he smiled.

"That I don't hate you"

Cavendish let out a short chuckle, letting out the breathing he hadn't realized he had been holding, because maybe Bartolomeo hadn't said The Three Words, the same way that he hadn't said them either, but that answer was all the close they were going to be to say their feelings and it was enough for the both of them.

"I'm glad to hear it. Because I don't hate you either"

Bartolomeo smiled widely, satisfied with the answer.

"Cool then", Bartolomeo approached his index and middle finger to his temple in a joking military gesture, "see you around, Cavendish 'of the White Horse'"

Cavendish smiled softly while making another short inclination while grabbing his hat.

"See you around, Bartolomeo 'the Cannibal'"

After saying goodbye both pirated turned around and walked in opposite directions, Cavendish towards the port and Bartolomeo towards the ship, while knowing that it wasn't going to pass much time until they met again.

After all, their relationship has changed completely now that they lov…didn't hate each other anymore.

 **The End**

* * *

 **When re-reading the sex scene I've realized that there is like A LOT of dialog between Bartolomeo and Cavendish, so sorry if that has bothered someone ^^U I just love too much to write these two idiots teasing each other, even when having sex xD**

 **And with this chapter this fic is done :) But now that Cabbage and Barto are finally together I'll probably keep writing occasional one-shots about them. I have some ideas in mind but if someone would like me to write something specific you can send me a PM and tell me what you want and I'll try to write it the best way I can :)**

 **And that's all :D Hope you have enjoyed this fic and thanks a lot to the ones who have been commenting and leaving kudos and don't hesitate to tell me what you think about the ending (L)(L)**

 **Merry Christmas to everyone! ^^**


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